Members of the Joint Southeast Area Campus Committee met Monday to discuss plans to replace Ogg Hall with a new 600-bed residence to be built on Dayton Street, across from Sellery Hall.
Contractors plan to begin building the new residence hall in the summer of 2007 and complete the project in time for students to move in that fall. Consultants for the university decided Ogg's design and facilities were too antiquated to redesign, and a new hall is needed to accommodate the growing student population.
\The decision was made that it would be too expensive to renovate Ogg,"" said Peter Schaudt of Schaudt Landscape Architecture. ""This residence will have a better social space and more bathrooms for students.""
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, raised a concern at the meeting that the increased amount of students crossing Dayton will be dangerous. Students using the Murray Street Mall will jaywalk instead of walking down to Park Street to use the walk signal, Verveer said.
According to Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor, the committee will try to convince the city to build a mid-block stoplight to stop traffic so students can cross safely. Ideally, a crosswalk on Dayton Street would resemble the crosswalk on Johnson Street with different colored pavement to alert motorists to slow down, and would extend the Murray Street Mall across Dayton, Fish said.
City traffic engineers are very hesitant to permit mid-block crosswalks, saying they believe they impede the flow of traffic, Verveer said.
The new dorm will also allow space for storing 200 bicycles as well as moped parking.
The current site of Ogg will be filled by a terraced recreational area, with volleyball and basketball courts on separate terraces.
The new hall will have more space for classrooms, said Paul Evans, director of university housing.
""A third of all our English 100 composition classes are taught in our buildings. We needed a lot of space for classrooms,"" Evans said.
The new dorm is part of the Core East Campus Plan, aimed at improving the east campus area and creating more open areas, Fish said.
