Members involved in the planning and building a new Lakeshore Residence Hall and Food Service Facility finalized the first phase of the Environmental Impact Statement of in a public hearing Thursday.
Phase one of the proposed project involves building a new residence hall able to house 404 freshman and transfer students. These students had previously been denied from living in university residence halls due to a lack of beds to accommodate them, University Operated Residence Halls Director of the UW Division of Housing Paul Evans said.
“We are very excited and enthusiastic about this project and what it will allow us to accomplish,” Evans said. “We will now be able to say ‘yes’ to students who would like to live on campus.”
The new construction project’s purpose is both to improve Lakeshore’s residence hall and food service facilities, and to provide living space for all first-year UW students who desire to live in them, Evans said.
Project Coordinator Benjamin Peotter from Ayres Associates Madison branch — one the engineering and architecture company responsible for designing and building project — highlighted the cumulative benefits of the projects.
According to Peotter, complaints from private sectors about the loss of trees and vegetation that result form the more than $47 million project are offset by increased GPAs of first-year students living in residence halls, job creation possibilities and essential housing needs.
The Lakeshore construction committee decided building this new residence hall and dining facility meets the goals of Residence Halls and Dining Services Master Plan 2004-2020, Peotter said.
Project coordinators determined this construction procedure would benefit students more than a no-action alternative, renovating Holt Commons or any alternative design concepts, Peotter said.
According to Evans, this residence hall would be built in place of the current recreational fields and tennis courts adjacent to the Natatorium and Bradley Hall, with a scenic view of Lake Mendota.
The new residence hall would include an updated dining venue similar to Rheta’s Caf?. Evans said this dining venue would replace the existing dining room located in Holt Commons.
He added simply renovating the current Lakeshore dining facilities and residence halls would not be a significant enough measure to ensure their goals are met.
“Instead of renovating Lakeshore, we decided to build new,” Evans said. “The renovation of our halls would increase our capacity. I needed to increase capacity in order to deal with the demand and in order to do that, I have to build more beds, and that’s what this (project) is.”
The five people in attendance at the meeting were either UW System faculty or participants in planning and initiating the project itself.
Evans said the project, expected to be completed by the start of the 2012 fall semester, would be funded entirely by students living in residence halls. None of the funding will come from state taxes.
