As UNC continues to grow, planning becomes all the more important in order to make use of available space for new campus buildings and facilities.
A new university master plan will serve as a road map for physical development on UNC grounds over the next 10 to 20 years. UNC Board of Trustees chair Haywood Cochrane emphasized the importance of this planning document after a trustees meeting in April.
“It emphasizes our commitment to planning,” Cochrane said. “Some things happen accidentally or they happen in response to an incident – some of the things that we’ve been dealing with for the last year. But planning is absolutely essential if we’re going to maximize the acreage that we’ve got.”
The plan first worked its way through the trustee’s Committee of University Affairs. Chuck Duckett, the chair of that committee, said the plan focuses on redevelopment and ways the university can use its current space more efficiently.
“This plan does so many things and takes into account all assets to include some new development, but also, importantly, redevelopment of the existing plan for the university,” Duckett said. “It focuses on key opportunities and the change in our needs as a university as it evolves, with research and teaching needs that will change.”
Within a 15-year timeline, the master plan foresees up to 3.3 million gross square feet of new construction and 1.9 million square feet of major renovation. This consists of identified upcoming projects planned for the next seven years and proposals without a defined timeline, but which are anticipated to be developed within the next 15 years.
Projects outlined in the plan include changes to Porthole Alley off Franklin street and extensive demolition and construction projects in South Campus in Odum Village.
The master plan was approved by the Board of Trustees on May 30. You can view the plan here.
This is a pretty comprehensive Master plan that addresses many of my issues with the nation’s first public University. I don’t see anything in the plan I could not support as a proud UNC graduate and current Orange County resident. The Stadium Drive changes will improve the tailgating experience and fixing the crazy pedestrian access around the Smith Center are both badly needed. Having Porthole Alley as the pedestrian welcome to Campus is a great idea too.
Green buildings that produce their own energy? The dinosaurs thought they had more time too.