Forums air preferred plans for main, health sciences campus

GREENVILLE, N.C.   —   Four upcoming open forums will give faculty, staff and students a look at the latest version of a plan for how the East Carolina University campus will grow over 15 years.

University officials seek feedback this week at those forums, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, to shape the final version of new campus facilities master plans for the main and health science campuses.

“This is still in a preliminary stage,” said Rick Niswander, interim vice chancellor for administration and finance. “There will undoubtedly be some tweaking based on the input from the campus and from the community forums.”

A number of options for main and health sciences campuses were aired at forums earlier this year. (Those options can be viewed on ECU’s master campus plan website, http://www.ecu.edu/cs-admin/masterplan/alternatives.cfm.) Now, those have been narrowed to two preferred options, Niswander said. ECU’s master plan consultants, Smith Group and JJR, used feedback from earlier forums to tweak details.

The upcoming forums will provide the first public look at the revised, preferred plans.

“We are airing them in the forums because we want to be able to offer explanation and context that goes with them,” Niswander said.

One proposed option for the main campus, dubbed  “Go North,” would expand ECU along Reade Street north of Fifth Street.

Among other things, that version includes a performing arts center where the Willis Building now sits on the east corner of Reade and First streets, across from the Greenville Town Common. That option also includes a 1,000-space parking deck on campus beside the Student Recreation Center and Mendenhall Student Center.

Another proposed option, dubbed “Go West,” would put academic buildings and a performing arts center in the area along Tenth Street between Evans Street and Dickinson Avenue.

None of the main campus options expands the campus into residential neighborhoods north of East Fifth Street, Niswander said.

One option for the health sciences campus, called “Live Within Your Means,” expands ECU within the existing footprint of university-owned property.

Another, called “Moye Village,” grows the health sciences campus east.

Niswander cautioned that details in these preferred options may differ from earlier versions. He also noted details are likely to change again before the board of trustees gives its required approval. A final plan for each campus is expected to be ready in the fall.
Work began on a revised campus master plan in 2010. It has involved students, staff, faculty, representatives of Greenville and Pitt County and community groups.

Forums:

• March 22: 4-5:30 p.m., Croatan Green Room
• March 22: 6-7:30 p.m., Greenville Centre Conference Room 1200
• March 23: 12:30-1:30 p.m., West End Dining Hall (students)
• March 23: 12:30-1:30 p.m. Health Sciences Building – ECHI Conference Room A
  ###