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| Consultants for the master campus plan heard people like the look of Dal's older stone buildings. |
鈥淚t鈥檚 been just amazing,鈥� says Mary Jane Adams, director of planning in Facilities Management and the Dal staff member responsible for guiding the process.
鈥淧eople have come forward at our series of public meetings and they鈥檝e contributed through Dalnews online and the community relations鈥� email box. The response has been wonderful.鈥�
Approximately 1,000 people contributed ideas and many more have been tapped for their suggestions in meetings that ranged from small groups to large ones, such as the AV俱乐部 Student Union Executives and the President鈥檚 Administrative Directors鈥� Forum (PADF).
Public meetings were held on all three campuses and about 30 neighbours attended an evening meeting on November 3. More than 150 faculty, students and staff have contributed their ideas via electronic channels.
Dominant issues are parking and transportation, the need for more day care spaces, an upgrading of Dalplex or more exercise opportunities on each campus, renovations or replacement of the Life Sciences Centre, more quiet spaces for students to study, and the future of University Avenue as a more pleasant and pedestrian-friendly space.
Those are the top priorities that people would like to see addressed in the master campus planning process. The plan will guide the university鈥檚 future physical development.
Now the consultants are concentrating on developing the range of priority issues and options that will go to senior management in December.
鈥淲e are hard at work on this now,鈥� says Larry Sherman, head of the IBI Group. 鈥淭he university鈥檚 executive must carefully consider the range of opportunities and priorities and give us direction. We will report back to the AV俱乐部 community in the new year, once that direction is clear.
鈥淓veryone involved in the consultations would like to thank students, faculty, staff, neighbours, and all the hundreds of people we鈥檝e met with over the last several months,鈥� says Mr. Sherman. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e given their time to help us determine a way forward for the university鈥檚 physical development as AV俱乐部 moves into the future.鈥�
The consultations have been led by IBI Group, a multi-disciplinary planning and design firm with experience throughout North America with the planning and development of post-secondary campuses and educational facilities. IBI head Larry Sherman and John Crace of WHW Architects, a member of the consulting team, conducted the majority of meetings.