Legislation to push Hillock alternatives passes SGA with unanimous support

Prompted by concern about the environmental impact of developing land near Comcast Center, student leaders called for more direct involvement in planning campus construction projects at an SGA meeting last night.

The Student Government Association unanimously passed a resolution asking the university to reconsider the development of the Wooded Hillock area behind the greenhouses to make way for departments the upcoming East Campus development will displace. Yet university officials said they have already considered alternatives, and changing plans would waste hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of design time.

SGA members expressed frustration at the lack of student involvement in the planning process.

"Tough decisions need to be made," SGA President Jonathan Sachs said after the meeting. "Students need to be brought into those tough decisions."

Before the vote, Carlo Colella, Facilities Management Director of architecture, engineering, and construction, said there "was no deliberate student involvement" in reviewing sites for the relocation.

To address that concern, junior Letters and Sciences Legislator Kelley Chubb amended the bill to request a student be added to the Facilities Council.

"I thought it was really important to establish a student voice on the Facilities Council, so in the future students can express an opinion about this kind of thing," Chubb said after the meeting.

The resolution cites the environmental impact to the area and its use as a teaching tool in asking the administration to provide feasibility studies for alternative locations.

The area was chosen by a university committee for development for several reasons, including the cost of development, the visibility of the area and its proximity to the rest of the campus, university officials said.

"Of the choices that we had ... that area was determined to be the best option available to us," Colella said. "There aren't a lot of places on the campus where you have sort of big, contiguous areas."

Jack Sullivan, co-chair of the university's Environmental Stewardship Committee, denounced what he saw as a lack of transparency in the project and questioned when the university would produce a cost estimate for the Hillock, echoing concerns also expressed by SGA Senior Vice President Joanna Calabrese.

A cost estimate is forthcoming from the developer, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Frank Brewer said last week.

The Hillock is often used for teaching purposes, but the remaining area would probably still be available for education after the 11 acres necessary for the project are developed, Brewer said.

Professor Joseph Sullivan said his forest ecology and plant physiology classes use the area for instruction.

"It's a good resource that you can just walk to," he said. "It offers a lot of things. It offers some nice native vegetation areas."

He also noted that the trees in the area benefit the environment by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air.

"[The development is] a negative environmental impact," said professor Raymond Weil, who estimated that he took about 300 students to the area per year.

"It's a relatively undisturbed area," he added. "Certainly the soil that we study there is quite undisturbed in its natural condition. [It's] hard to find in an area where the students can walk to."

SGA Outlying Commuter Legislator Steve Glickman, who sponsored the bill, said he wanted students to have a say on future construction projects.

"I just hope that students are a part of the process," he said.

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