YSU reviews priorities in campus master plan campus

Construction of the business administration building could begin in mid-2007.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Improved campus gateways, a new Williamson College building and a revamped Coffelt Hall are parts of a campus master plan Youngstown State University hopes to have completed or under way by 2008.
That's when YSU will celebrate its centennial, and these are key plan components targeted for the immediate future, Hunter Morrison, director of the university's Center for Urban & amp; Regional Studies, said last week.
The university will have to determine just what parts of the plan it can afford and when, he said.
The Elm and Spring street entryways to campus are at the top of the list as part of the university's ongoing efforts to improve its curb appeal to visitors and prospective students.
The YSU Board of Trustees approved a campus master plan in concept a year ago, Morrison said.
Parts of master plan
It had five key components at that time: construction of a new building for the Williamson College of Business Administration; continued efforts to integrate the campus into the immediate neighborhoods and the city's downtown (which includes improving campus entryways); expanding Moser and Ward Beecher halls to include facilities for life sciences and engineering; a major overhaul of Kilcawley Center (possibly adding an atrium); and remaking the outdoor area at the center of campus into a lawn, replacing sunken sitting areas and plantings.
The lawn idea has since been dropped from the master plan, Dr. David C. Sweet, YSU president, said recently, noting that it had met a lot of resistance.
However, other components remain in a project the university says will eventually cost millions of dollars.
One of the early goals is to make some significant progress on the plan by 2008, and some of the entryway improvements could be completed by then.
The new business administration building will likely take a bit longer, though that part of the project could be well under way by the target date.
The university is looking at putting the building on the south side of Rayen Avenue as part of the effort to link the campus with the downtown business district.
Early designs
Preliminary designs show an L-shaped building stretching from Rayen south a block to Wood Street between Phelps Street and a proposed extension of Hazel Street.
The university is still completing an architectural review of needs, but plans for the new building could be in place this year, a YSU spokesman said.
Actual construction could begin as early as summer 2007, though costs and funding sources for the new building have yet to be identified.
That facility is a key part of YSU's centennial campaign, Sweet has said, noting that the university hopes to raise money from private sources to build it.
Morrison said the campus master plan fits in closely with a larger downtown renewal project that would connect the campus with the downtown area and improve 38 acres between the two.
Needing help from city
The business administration building is part of that, and the university will need the city's help in securing property for the structure, Morrison said.
The university will also need the help of the city and some other property owners along Spring Street on the west side of Wick Avenue.
Preliminary plans call for widening what at one time was only a residential street to include a green median strip. Spring Street meets Bryson Street on campus in an L-shaped intersection just north of Tod Hall. The plans call for that intersection to be replaced by a traffic circle, Morrison said.
The plan would require the city to vacate both Spring and Bryson streets to allow the university to proceed, and other property owners would have to agree to allow the streets to become a private roadway, he said.
Spring Street off Fifth Avenue on the west wide of campus would be improved to provide head-in parking and enlargement of a cul-de-sac in front of Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center. The street doesn't run all the way through campus.
Other possibilities
Coffelt Hall, on the north side of Spring Street off Wick Avenue, is a former American Legion hall that now houses the university's student Writing Center.
It could be renovated and enlarged to house the Office of Graduate Studies, moving that operation close to Sweeney Hall, which houses admissions and undergraduate programs, Morrison said, adding that the Writing Center could be relocated.
Preliminary plans call for the Elm Street entrance on the north side of campus to be widened with provisions for head-in parking and an effort to make University Plaza in front of Kilcawley Center a more functional space to serve students living on campus, Morrison said.
Resurfacing and lighting improvements to that section of Elm Street are planned for this summer, a university spokesman said.
The old tennis courts and a faculty parking lot that occupy part of the plaza could be eliminated to open the area up and make it more appealing, and that could be tied in to some modifications to Kilcawley, such as adding a central atrium to make it more amenable to campus residents, Morrison said.
The university intends to gather student input before finalizing any changes to the Kilcawley area, Morrison said.
gwin@vindy.com