02-20-2024 UFPB Meeting Minutes

February 20, 2024

Members Present: Grant Petersen – Co-Chair, Marguerite Kibodeaux - ASMSU Representative, Sreekala Bajwa,  Evan Greenwood, Brett Gunnink, Duane Morris, Kris Johnson, Chris Fastnow, Mike McNeil

Proxy's: Durward Sobek (for Robert Mokwa), Randy Crandall (For Mike Stanley)

Members Absent: Mike Everts, Tom Rogers, Alison Harmon, Dean Adams, Kirk Lubick, EJ Hook, Steve Swinford, Terry Leist

Staff & Guests: Grey Williams, Jennisse Waters, John Scott, Ben Erickson, Ara Meskimen, Leon Costello

ITEM No. 1 - APPROVAL OF NOTES

The meeting minutes from November 20^th, 2023, were  approved with a condition for edits to be made regarding attendance and naming of attendees.

Item #3 was presented and sicussed before Item #2 due to time constraints and commitments of meeting guests.

ITEM No. 3 - RECOMMENDATION - Indoor Practice Facility

Presenter: Grey Williams, Campus Planner

Project Summary/Context

The indoor practice facility, a priority of the 2017 Athletic Facilities Master Plan, will feature an abbreviated 100-yard artificial-turf football field along with an indoor track complex. The space will serve to improve safety and continuity of athletic operations during inclement weather or generally poor outside conditions such as snow, heat, or wildfire smoke. The building’s creation of new programmable athletic space will further diversify MSU’s sports facilities portfolio and improve flexibility for scheduling of all athletic facilities on campus. This project is funded by donors and has a budget of $25 Million.

Project Scope

The facility will serve Bobcat Athletics for practice, training, and competition use with approximately 112,000 square feet of space.  The facility will feature:

• 100-yard football field (40-yard line = midfield)
• Six-lane indoor track
• Long jump, pole-vault, and throwing areas
• Multipurpose room (e.g. meeting space)
• Storage space
• Restrooms 

Site Principles & Design

The facility will be situated at approximately a 45-degree angle at the southwest end of the outdoor track complex and south of Bobcat Stadium. Site principles informing site selection include:

• Proximity to existing outdoor track, track storage, Bobcat stadium, and Bobcat Athletic Complex for operational efficiency and pedestrian safety, south of Kagy Blvd.
• Site location off main roadways to reduce the facility’s impact on campus neighbors
• Maintain flexibility of adjacent land use for future changes to Bobcat Stadium

Facility Principles & Design

The building will be a large-span pre-engineered metal building structure with a simple, cost-effective, and tasteful design. Design principles & features include:

• High, large-span structure for effective training use (throwing, kicking, etc.)
• Ample natural light with strategies to manage glare and supplemental LED lighting
• Metal exterior with limited long term maintenance costs
• Branding opportunities for recruiting and culture building
• Netting for safe concurrent use by multiple groups

Other Design Considerations

• Accessibility/ADA
  • Facility will be built to all current standards for accessibility
• Parking
  • Parking will not be displaced by the building site
  • The facility is not anticipated to increase traffic in the area
• Multi-Modal Traffic
  • The site minimizes pedestrian crossing of Kagy Blvd. for operations and student use among adjacent facilities (e.g. Bobcat Athletic Complex)
• Safety
  • The facility improves athlete safety during poor weather (smoke, cold, etc.)
  • The building includes safe site lighting and provisions for security cameras
  • The building’s use of windows is consistent with passive surveillance design principles
• Maintainability
  • The pre-engineered metal building structure is the most viable long-term construction type of all options analyzed (tensioned fabric, air supported, etc.)
• Site Impacts
  • The project has accounted for relocation of facilities grounds operations and adjustments to the outdoor track complex to accommodate the building.

Project Delivery

The project is currently in the schematic design (SD) phase and progressing into the design development (DD) phase with construction anticipated to start in 2024, pending fundraising progress.

Grant Petersen provided further clarity of the anticipated bidding schedule of the project and timeline of proposed work to be done in the summer of 2024.

Ben Erickson updated the group on where the design team currently is in the process along with some challenges being faced.

Leon Costello provided an update on the fundraising for the project.

There was discussion on what kind of turf would be used in the facility, which Grant Petersen clarified that the turf in the facility will be the exact same as the turf in the stadium for continuity. It was added that due to the addition of the track complex into the facility an abbreviated 100-yard turf field was required.

Parking was also discussed, primarily if this project would displace current parking and how this project would integrate with proposed improvements to the stadium parking lots. Further insight was provided into the relationship between the two projects and that parking should not be displaced or altered where parking spots would be lost.

Sustainability including related discussion such as landscaping, stormwater planning, and heat islands were questioned. The design team along with Grant Petersen stated that the building will be built with solar capabilities in the future, but the budget does not allow for solar to be installed during initial construction. Landscaping and stormwater questions were answered by providing insight into the design process and intentions of the design team, such as using natural grasses and creating swells. Grant Petersen stated that to get the maximum number of parking spots, along with ease of maintenance, no trees will be planted. The air conditioning of the facility was discussed as well, with the design team stating that the facility will not be air conditioned due to the size of the facility.

The Vote: Duane Morris motions to recommend, Sreekala Bajwa seconds. The motion carries.

ITEM No. 2 - RECOMMENDATION - Stadium Parking Lot Improvements

Presenter: Grey Williams, Campus Planner

Project Summary/Context

The West (20) and East (25) Stadium Lots surrounding Bobcat Stadium will be paved to increase capacity of the lots, improve maintainability, and generally upgrade service. The project will maximize and improve parking, increase and improve ADA parking at the stadium, improve safety and security, and improve drainage. This project is funded by Parking Services. 

Project Scope

The stadium parking lots serve campus and Bobcat Stadium for daily use and special events. The lots will be improved and optimized to:

• Increase number of parking stalls (approx. increase of 500 spaces)
• Improve landscape and drainage
• Improve safety: site lighting, security cameras, crowd management

Site Principles & Design

The site includes the existing stadium parking lots and expands slightly to the south, around Bobcat Stadium. Site principles include:

• Improve safety, reduce pedestrian/vehicular conflict
• Optimize day-to-day use (commuter heavy)
• Improve efficiency of event operations at Bobcat Stadium and improve ADA access
• Modernize campus land use to match peer institutions (campus perimeter parking)
• Design to accommodate future changes to Kagy
• Improve long-term maintainability of parking infrastructure
• Responsibly manage stormwater with simple, low-maintenance landscape

Project Delivery

The project is currently wrapping up design development (DD) and progressing into final construction documents (CD) for construction this summer.

Discussion of this project included planned landscaping improvements of the site and how it will affect stormwater, if any parking will be displaced due to construction, movement of current facilities such as grounds areas, heat islands, and maintenance.

Grant Petersen and the project team clarified various questions and other inquiries, while providing further detail on matters such as stormwater. This included the addition of native grasses and the creation of swells being discussed, along with clarifying that stormwater will not go into storm drainage but will return through the groundwater process.

Members discussed circulation and safety and if this project contributed to either or improved either. The project team stated that this will reduce traffic on Kagy and will improve circulation within the lots themselves. Pedestrian traffic between facilities will also be improved. Discussion of future Kagy plans were also discussed such as the roundabout and pedestrian walkway ideas.

The Vote: Evan Greenwood motions to recommend. Duane Morris seconds. The motion carries.

ITEM No. 4 - INFORMATIONAL - Classroom Committee Update

Presenter: Grey Williams, Campus Planner

Context

The Classroom Committee is a subcommittee of UFPB which serves to consult on all matters related to the physical infrastructure and environment of classrooms on campus. The committee has recently updated the policies and procedures of the group to better define the role, membership composition, and process of the committee going forward.

Scope

This update centered on modernizing the policy which hadn’t been updated in several years. Updates include:

• Defining the membership
• Focus on finding invested faculty members with desire for diversity of colleges, positions, and years of service
• Term lengths
• Appointment process/procurement of members
• Further definition of duties and tasks of the committee

Additional Information

The Classroom Committee voted unanimously to approve the updated policies and procedures document at the January 2024 meeting of the committee.

Discussion revolved around what the committee’s purpose is and various issues that have been raised by certain faculty, and whether these issues were something the committee would hear/solve or if that would be the purview of another group on campus.

Brett Gunnink described specific instances where accessibility was a concern of engineering faculty, and wondered if this was something the classroom committee hears about.

Kris Johnson a sitting member of the Classroom Committee told the board that while certain things may not be in the charge of the committee, informational items about subjects such as accessibility or classroom experience would be things the committee would like to hear.

ITEM No. 5 - INFORMATIONAL - ADA Facilities Advisory Committee

Presenter: Grey Williams, Campus Planner

Context

The ADA Facilities Advisory Committee is a subcommittee of UFPB charged with informing the ADA requirements and priorities for MSU. Recently, the committee has been updating their guiding policies and procedures document, updating MSUs ADA Transition Plan, and working to improve accessibility tracking across campus. The recent reinvigoration of the committee has resulted in 4 in-person meetings with various stakeholders to determine the next steps and priorities for the committee.

Scope

The committee has taken steps to proactively update documents and continue pervious work, while establishing new systems to further the mission of the committee. This includes:

• Updating of Policy and Procedures
• Updating of MSU’s ADA Transition Plan
• Establishing new web presence and web resources regarding ADA
• Utilizing FCA program to track accessibility across MSU facilities
• Stakeholder engagement regarding accessibility
• Establishing deliverables and reporting to UFPB

Additional Information

Along with this committee a collaborative public facing meeting: “The Accessibility Collaborative”, has been established to further campus involvement and stakeholder engagement. This meeting is run by the Office of Disability Services.

The board discussed wanting more updates from this committee and asked about the web presence of the committee. Grant Petersen, Mike McNeil, and other members of the ADA committee clarified that certain items such as official documents were still being finalized and that strategies for web presence are being discussed.

Mike McNeil provided further details on what the committee has been engaged in, along with the Accessibility collaborative meeting that his office runs. Grey Williams and Mike McNeil answered further questions about the committee and what the committee has been doing since it was reconvened.