Tuesday, June 26, 2001 at 1:30 P.M. in the Henry Wells Room

Present at the meeting were: Patti Callahan, Erna Coon, Melissa Golden, Scott Heinekamp (Chair), C.J. Koepp, Ann Rollo, Susan Ryan, Crawford Thoburn, Jay Woolford

The minutes of the meeting of June 6th which had been distributed previously, were approved as corrected.

Chair Heinekamp reminded the committee of the items on the agenda, which had been distributed previously. He then initiated discussion of the issues surrounding the creation of more parking space on campus. Erna Coon reported that Ellen Hall would be meeting with concerned members of the Biology faculty to discuss their outdoor teaching needs and the potential impact which the removal of forested areas to create more parking space would have on their course offerings.

Crawford Thoburn shared more specific information sent to him by Margaret Flowers about "loss of habitat" for the bird population, and the "edge effect" which makes it impossible for shade-loving species native to the forest areas on campus to exist in a fairly broad band (50-100 feet) on the perimeter of such areas. It is her contention that any expansion of the woods parking lot will mean a significant loss of habitat for both birds and plant life and that this ought to be seriously considered in the process of determining how and where more parking spaces should be created.

Jay Woolford reported that the architects, in response to the sub-committee's request, had re-drawn the plans for the woods lot, extending it on the East, West and North by 40 ft. in each direction, and eliminating the central grassy "spine", thus creating space for 150 vehicles. By expanding the Leach parking lot, additional space was created for 50 more vehicles. It is hoped that construction will begin before the return of students. This totals just 25 vehicles short of the desired number of spaces as estimated by Michael Carter. It was agreed that that the biology faculty should be consulted before any of the present parking areas are altered or new parking spaces created.

The next item of business was a discussion of the makeup of the committee. Upon question from the Chair, Jay Woolford explained that he was no longer a member of the Board of Trustees, but was asked to stay on the sub-committee since he had served as chair of the Trustee Buildings and Grounds committee. It was noted that Michael Groth was going off of the APPC, and would thus no longer serve on its sub-committee. Another member of APPC will be designated to replace him committee in September. It was also noted that Susan Ryan has resigned as Dean of Students, and that she will be replaced on the sub-committee by her successor.

The major section of the meeting was devoted to Jay Woolford's presentation of the rationale, objectives and benefits of master planning, and of the Administration and Board of Trustees Master Plan concepts, which were adopted by the Board of Trustees in October, 2000. [See documents on master planning benefits and "Master Planning - Goals and Objectives", in the resource room.] This presentation was interspersed and accompanied by questions and comments from other members of the sub-committee. As a subcommittee. we will go through an abbreviated version of the planning process, so that we can create a finished product which reflects input from the constituencies represented on the subcommittee. It appears that the master- planning process grew out of the realization that the construction of new science facilities might very likely have a serious impact on the configuration of the campus, and that no strategic plan was in place to deal with this. The administration therefore commenced an in-depth information gathering process to ascertain what was needed to create an excellent liberal arts institution for 450 students which would be cost- effective and yet attractive to both high quality students and faculty. This involved assessment of current buildings and their arrangement on campus, as well as attempts to ascertain what new construction would be necessary to achieve the above goals. The result of this process is the master plan which the Trustees endorsed in October, 2000.

The discussion of the elements of this master plan will begin at the next meeting of the subcommittee on July 17th.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Crawford R. Thoburn
Secretary pro tem