DON'T GET THE WRONG IDEA
As with any big project, the Master Plan has its own rumor mill. If you have heard any of the following complaints, they are, hereby, set straight.
The Master Plan is costing a fortune.
The Master Plan virtually involves no money, explains vice president of finance Dale McGirr. "Individual structures have their own funding strategies," he says. "The Master Plan is just the conductor. It didn't buy the orchestra. The orchestra was in place, and we were going to have music one way or another. The Master Plan just pays the conductor for good music rather than bad."
The main expense connected to the Master Plan is funding some of the green spaces. McGirr estimates that approximately $50 million will be spent on open spaces in a 12-year period. "That will be done through a variety of ways -- state money, gifts and money attached to other projects," he says. "In all, it amounts to about 5 to 10 percent of a decade's capital spending. But it's an important component."
Parking is being lost.
It appears that way since the largest surface parking lot is being demolished. Yet once all work is completed on the campus garages, only 20 original parking places will have been lost. That number is ample for UC's median parking demand, says university architect Ron Kull. During peak hours of early fall quarter, some parking shortages do exist, he concedes. But the university is exploring the possibility of a partnership with the Corryville business community, in which UC would lease daytime spaces in a commercial garage privately being built within a couple blocks of campus.
Construction is off schedule.
"We are close to being on schedule," Kull says. Certain projects have had site-specific problems, but no major delays are expected.
