At the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico (ASUNM) Full Senate on Sept. 27, senators were briefed about the development plans for The Integrated Campus Plan (ICP). No decisions were made.
The ICP aims to address all of UNM properties and guide the University’s decisions on the physical environment, including the character of each campus, safety, access, mobility and sustainability.
Guest speakers from the ICP, University Planner Rosie Dudley and Chair of SASAKI’s planning and urban design Tyler Patrick, said to increase the community response, The University’s Planning, Design and Construction (PDC) is involved in state-wide surveying and open houses on the plan.
The Capital Planning Leadership Committee votes on which projects should be prioritized to create long-term plans to support future development and document buildings that will need reconstruction, Patrick said in response to Senator Sydney Moore and Lucas Gutierrez’s questions about implementation and prioritization.
Concerns about safety were brought up by Senator Ria Schultz, given the nature of an open campus and several entrance points. The ICP wants to design a style of building that funnels the people who enter the University from key entrances without using fences to seal off the property, Patrick said.
The lack of University presence in different campus areas was a concern for Senator Alexa Lucero. The campus safety plan will address these issues; the safety and security plan will advance at a faster pace, and safety recommendations from the senators and the community will be prioritized, Patrick said.
In response to Schultz’s comment, Dudley said that ICP is discussing redoing Redondo by restricting transit use and personal car access to the road, allowing only shuttles, bikes and Uber/Lyft drop-offs for students. This will be open to all traffic for special occasions, such as move-in days and for service vehicles.
The ICP will replace the 2009 Master Plan. The 2009 Master Plan outlined the strategy to unite Central, North and South Campuses with specific improvements to circulation, public spaces and new buildings – things ICP is, again, attempting to do.
The absence of transportation to grocery stores for students is an issue Senator Adrianna Casaus wanted to see addressed. No solutions are in motion.
PDC selected Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) to design the Center for Collaborative Arts and Technology (CCAT) facility, which will break ground on UNM’s Main Campus in the summer of 2024. Efforts are also being made to revamp the Welcome Center and make it more accessible for incoming students and their families.
The CCAT building is planned to be built where A Lot is, in front of Johnson Field. Senator Bailey Rutherford said he is worried about the parking lot being taken away.
In order to compensate for lost parking space, ICP proposed a remodel of the parking lots on Girard and Central as a future plan they could take on. The Welcome Center redesign is also underway, which will break ground in a year, Dudley said.
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The style of the new buildings was brought up by Senator Alfred Achusim who speaks about the need to preserve Indigenous New Mexico architecture on campus. With the ICP project, Dudley said the new buildings will look more updated. Different buildings have distinct technical and structural requirements, Patrick said, that influences material type.
The demolition of the education building will cause a shift in the location of services currently provided there. This semester, the Asian American Pacific Islander Resource Center moved to Mesa Vista Hall. Senator Julián Ángel expressed concerns about this shift as it causes a cluster of academic departments. Dudley said the shift is to get users out of noncompliant buildings to ensure their safety.
The full Senate meets again on Wednesday, Oct. 11. Full Senate meetings are open to public comment.
Zaina Naru is the News Editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com
