Current and future construction projects on Grounds were the focus points of the "U.Va. Today Community Briefing," held Tuesday evening in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom.
About 100 community members and University employees attended the event, hosted by the University's Community Relations Department.
"It is a forum designed to help residents know about [the University's] thoughts for the future," Director of Community Relations Ida Lee Wootten said.
University Architect David J. Neuman spoke about current construction on Grounds and his plans to better coordinate future projects.
"We want to get the University and the residents to talk to each other about goals so we can come up with the most cost-effective results," Neuman said.
Neuman spoke about expanding the capabilities of the College, to accommodate the 100 additional students a year that will graduate.
"The South Lawn project includes renewing the facilities of Rouss, Cocke and Cabell Hall," Neuman said.
In addition, the new Observatory Hill Dining Hall will be able to accommodate more students than actually live in the surrounding area, and 250 to 500 beds will eventually be added to the McCormick Road Residential Area, Neuman said.
The speakers at the briefing also presented plans to renovate and add to the Medical Center.
"Our new hospital is 15 years old now, and our facilities are beginning to age," said R. Edward Howell, vice president and CEO of the University of Virginia Medical Center.
The Medical Center's 20- to 30-year plan is based on several goals including care for patients, delivering new knowledge to the bedside and the training of specialty physicians, Howell said.
Plans for the new Clinical Cancer Center, Children's Hospital and Core Laboratory Building are still in the idea phase, Howell said, emphasizing the importance of the connectivity between the University and the community in developing the plans.
The total projected cost of all the renovations and additions to the Medical Center is $70 million.
Another University construction project, the update of the heating plant, will cost $51.8 million and will begin in spring 2005. The update is necessary in order for the heating plant to be in compliance with federal and state Clean Air Act regulations, Director of Utilities Cheryl Gomez said.
The plan includes the addition of two new boilers as well as a new baghouse which will pull unwanted particles out of the air. A total of five boilers, including the addition of a fifth silo south of the railroad tracks near University Avenue and bounded on the east by West Main, will heat 80 percent of the buildings on Grounds, Gomez said.
During the question and answer period several community members, including University alumnus and Rugby Road area resident John Ritchie, expressed concern about the unsightliness of the silos.
"We live in a very creative community and it could be as simple as paint, but is there a way to camouflage these eyesores?" Ritchie said.
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