This is a follow-up to the Master Planning update that was sent to everyone in April 2004.

The work of the Steering Committee for the University Master Plan is complete. I would like to thank all of you who participated in the project and provided comments on the various design elements. There work will benefit the University for many years to come. 

In my last report, the final draft of the Master Plan was complete and we were waiting to present the plan to the USNH Board of Trustees for final approval. At the meeting in April, the Board received master planning presentations from UNH, KSC and PSU. This turned out to be a great deal of information for one meeting and the Board asked to defer final approval of the plans until the fall of 2004. The Capital Review Subcommittee of the Board was asked to consider certain aspects of the plan and we now expect that the Board will vote on the master plans in October or November. At this time, I expect that we will receive approval of our plan. If you are interested in seeing the final draft, it is located at the following web site along with some additional information:

http://www.plymouth.edu/finman/mplan/mplandocs.htm  

The full report that was given to the Board is long and not that easy to easy to read online, you will need to enlarge the page in order to read it clearly. I also intend to place a copy of the full report on reserve at the Library.  

We continue to work on various aspect of the Master Plan in preparation for the next steps:

1. One chapter of the master plan that is not complete is the chapter on sustainability. PEA (our master planner) is working with us to develop a plan that will help us approach future building projects and major refurbishment with an eye towards the environment. The goal will be to establish a set of standards for the future that will assure that new and refurbished buildings will meet guidelines on energy efficiency, environmentally friendly building materials, landscaping, and indoor air quality.
    

2. A committee was formed in May to begin work on developing a project to build a new residence halls on the north end of campus. This group has been meeting throughout the summer and we expect that the final design of the new project will be complete by the end of September. We hope that this facility will be open by fall 2006. If you are interested in seeing the initial design work on this project please go the following web site:  http://www.plymouth.edu/finman/mplan/northcampus/north0904.htm
    

3. A working group was formed last spring to begin work on developing a plan for the rehabilitation of Mary Lyon Hall. MLH has the most extensive amount of deferred maintenance of all of our residence halls. There has been no major work done on the facility since 19XX and even though this is one of our favorite residence halls, it needs a major overhaul. At this time, we believe that the cost of the project will run approximately $12 million and will be completed no later than fall 2007.
    

4. Finally, a committee was formed to begin work on the development of a project for the rehabilitation and construct an addition to the PE Center or Holderness Complex. The master plan pointed out that this facility is undersized for the current demand and the existing facility has the most deferred maintenance of any building on campus. Our plan, pending funding from the State of New Hampshire, is to have this facility completed no later than the fall 2010. The committee is currently reviewing the following work:
   1. Deferred maintenance issues within the current facility.
   2. The addition of a new academic center for the HPER Department and related labs.
   3. The addition of a new, larger swimming pool that will allow for more campus and community general swim time.
   4. The addition of a new ice skating facility, which will have a broad range of uses not only by the institution by the surrounding community.
   5. Improvements to the existing athletic fields.

     If you are interested seeing the initial designs for this facility please go to the following web site:  http://www.plymouth.edu/finman/mplan/holderness/holderness0904.htm.

Again, I want thank everyone who has been participating in all of this work; your time commitment and good work will help these projects continue to move ahead and I am sure will provide quality facilities that will last us a long time.

Bill Crangle
Financial Affairs