Master Plan in the can

The CSU Board of Trustees took a peek into the future and decided they liked what they saw, as they unanimously approved Chico State’s 2005 Master Plan.

Chico State President Paul Zingg presented the plan, which has been in the works since 2000, at the trustees’ regular meeting July 20.

The plan will concentrate on providing visible entry points into the university, improving pedestrian flow and building new facilities that will accommodate the growth and change of the university over the next 20 years.

Greg Francis, executive dean and director of facilities planning at Chico State, said the university will begin drafting designs on new on-campus housing as early as January 2006 to address climbing enrollment.

“We don’t have enough [on-campus housing] to accommodate the freshman students looking to live on campus,” Francis said.

The on-campus housing project will be divided into three phases, including major corrective work on Whitney Hall. Francis said a complete tear-down of the 36-year-old residence hall would be a less-expensive endeavor, but that there is still planning to be done. If the university did go that route, Francis said the nine-story building would be replaced with four-story dorm clusters.

Some projects included in the plan have already been set in motion.

The $34 million state-funded Student Services Center is set to break ground in fall 2005. The four-level, 120,000-square-foot building will occupy the now-empty field on the corner of Hazel and Second streets and be home to a laundry list of student services, including the Office of Admissions and Student Records and Registration. The facility will also be officially registered as “green” through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

Also on tap is the $55 million Wildcat Activity Center, which was voted on by students in March and met with dissention among some students and local health club owners. Construction will begin in fall 2008 on the corner of Second and Cherry streets. Francis said the design stage of the 120,000-square-foot recreation center will likely begin in October of this year.

Aside from newer projects, many of the facility needs outlined in Chico State’s 1990 Master Plan have also been revisited in the 2005 version—including the Student Services Center, a replacement of Taylor Hall, a new and expanded Child Care Facility and a classroom/laboratory facility for the northeast section of the campus.

President Zingg said including downtown business and surrounding neighborhoods in the Master Plan discussion was important to the university.

“We are gratified by the trustees’ confidence in our plans and mindful that we have a lot of folks who are counting on us to succeed in them.”