Skip to Navigation
University of Pittsburgh
Print This Page Print this pages

December 7, 2000

University to commission study of outdoor space on campus

Pitt will commission a study of its exterior space utilization, a University Senate committee was told this week.

According to Ana Guzman, associate vice chancellor for Facilities Management, Pitt expects to hire Michael Yahres, a planning consultant from Virginia, to formulate a master plan for outdoor space utilization on its 132-acre Oakland campus. The University owns more than 90 buildings and is in the midst of major construction projects on Forbes Avenue between South Bouquet Street and Oakland Avenue, and on the site of Pitt Stadium, which was razed this year in preparation for the Petersen Events Center.

Guzman was reporting at the Plant Utilization and Planning (PUP) committee's Dec. 5 meeting.

"I'm going to bring [Yahres] in to develop a utilization and landscaping master plan of the campus for all our outdoor spaces: How we can use them, how we should be using them, how we can connect them and how the pedestrian circulation on campus is tied into it," Guzman said.

The master plan would address signage, landscaping, planting, lighting and green space utilization, she said.

"This is the best time to do it because we're adding five acres of landscaping to the campus [adjacent to the events center], and we need some kind of plan. It's always been done in bits and pieces in the past and we need something that can unify the look of the whole campus," she said.

Guzman said she is scheduling a meeting to introduce the planning consultant to the University community. "We will let everyone know about the first meeting, because we're trying to get as much input and information as possible about the different areas of the campus, what you would like to see happen, what others around campus, students and so forth, would like to see."

In a related matter, PUP committee members discussed the status of plans for the Posvar Hall/Hillman Library/Law Building plaza. The area has undergone some esthetic and practical improvements, Guz-man said, including the installation of tables. This spring, Pitt intends to add permanent utility lines in the plaza for water and electrical power to accommodate vendors and their patrons, she said.

According to Eli Shorak, Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor, Pitt hopes to smooth over its relationship with local street vendors who are facing greater restrictions from a new city ordinance, set to go into effect Jan. 1.

Shorak told the committee that the ordinance, which Pitt supported, calls for limiting the size of vendor vehicles, their hours of operation and the places they may occupy legally. He said vendors no longer are able to park at metered parking spaces, for example.

In supporting the ordinance before City Council, the University argued that the vendors who park in front of Hillman Library and other areas around campus present a nuisance and an expense to the University, which has to clean up after them, Shorak said. "We're not against the vendors themselves, but we did support more control of where they can [sell their wares]," he said.

Guzman said Pitt hopes eventually to issue inexpensive licenses for County Health Department-approved and city ordinance-compliant vendors to sell their products on designated University space, such as parts of the plaza.

In other PUP business:

* Guzman reported that Pitt has started to install an internal "shaft" from the ground level to the top of the Cathedral of Learning to better accommodate internal facilities improvements. She said she's issuing a memo to all departments in the Cathedral about the project. The installation is expected to be done after business hours.

"It will take some time, but when it's done, we will be much better able to install piping for future air-conditioning, wiring, sprinkler systems and electrical and telecommunications conduits," Guzman said. "We will be able to work laterally across the Cathedral floors for renovations of all types." She referred to the shaft as the "new backbone of the Cathedral."

She added that construction is underway to replace stairwell doors with fire-safety doors throughout the Cathedral and to install sprinklers on its upper floors.

* Shorak reported that discussions are underway on the future of Oakland at public forums co-sponsored by the Oakland Task Force, a group of residents, real estate owners and representatives from institutions and businesses, and the city planning department. (See University Times, Nov. 22.)

Shorak represents the University on the task force. He said Pitt supported plans to convert the Schenley Plaza area between Hillman and Carnegie libraries into green space. The area currently holds a 238-space long-term parking lot.

"The University generally supports more green space and improving the park entrances and connecting the campus and improving pedestrian flow," he said. "But we know there is a trade-off [in converting Schenley Plaza]. There is a need for parking to replace the spaces there."

Shorak said several feasibility studies for an underground parking lot at the plaza have shown the idea to be cost-prohibitive. "There will be a report from the Oakland Task Force, but final decisions are still far in the future," he said.

* The PUP committee agreed to develop recommendations for extending accessibility of the University's Wellness Program to more areas of the Pittsburgh campus. The program operates out of Trees Hall. Robert Robertson, co-director of the program and PUP committee member, said the Wellness Program had the support of the administration and that the program was lobbying for more staffing and convenient locations.

Robertson suggested that PUP's role could be to reinforce the strategy to consider adding Wellness Program satellites in new or existing buildings on the lower campus.

* Joseph Phillips, director of Parking, Transportation and Services, said his office is studying Pitt shuttle routes and stops in light of the ongoing construction projects and expected changes in student travel flow. Phillips said his office also is evaluating signage in University-run parking lots, which is inconsistent and, in some cases, outdated.

"We're going to look at the signage and the lighting with a 'visitor's eye,' so that a visitor can get to a campus destination without confusion."

–Peter Hart  

Filed under: Feature,Volume 33 Issue 8

Leave a Reply