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Adding one more restaurant to or near the student union would be very helpful to not just add culinary variety, but also to keep down the sometimes incredibly long lines at both Panda Express and Einstein's Bagels. (Potential options could be Chick-fil-a, Subway, or Rasing Canes - all seen at 1 or more other colleges around the country)
I applaud your efforts to provide more on-campus living accommodations. With more on-campus living, there will be a demand for more supportive employees. U-Health will continue to grow exponentially, Research Park will get taller, and the rest of the campus will grow, stressing the surrounding infrastructure. How is the University addressing transportation to the campus from the South, East, and Summit County? These areas are underserved by mass transit, and the university needs to work with UDOT, UTA, and Wasatch Front Regional Council to address these issues.
Our campus has widespread mobility, safety and access issues. If you are developing a strategic plan, PLEASE consult with your access and disability specialists and advocates, and not just architects and site designers. Some of the issues I am aware of on campus include sidewalks that are supposed to be wheelchair accessible, but which are uncovered and not cleared of snow and ice during the winter. Parking garages with disability spaces but with floors too short for the disability shuttle to fit. Access pathways that go out into traffic, across blind driveway entries. Elevators from disability parking to work sites that are poorly maintained. Shuttle schedules that don't align with clinical work hours for U healthcare. Bathrooms that are marked accessible, but which are behind a non-automated heavy fire door. Some of these challenges have highly cost-effective resolutions available; it is incredibly hard to get an ear or give feedback to the places where action is actually possible. Please, be mindful of these things in a strategic plan, you will greatly reduce suffering related to mobility issues if you do. Thank you.
All new buildings need to be fully accessable- every door be ADA acceptable and elevators through out.
Also the Universal Design and Access Committee at every step of the process.
The south campus trax station leaves much to be desired.
Here is it now
------------ rail
|exit
------------ sidewalk
Here is what it should be
------------------------ rail
|exit | also an exit
-------------------------- sidewalk
There is an excessive amount of walking uphill required to move to the exit/entrance to the station, only to usually walk back down to the front of the train. Ridiculous! I am about to start hopping the concrete barrier and walking up the rails to the station instead. Plus, it wouldn't be hard, either; just cut out the fence and paint a few lines on the road. Done!
Any multistory new construction should have underground parking garages. Yes, this is expensive, but it's a necessary price to pay to build more while preserving parking capacity.
Trax barely covers any area but it frequently gets so full you have to wait 15 min train. There is no room for people in mobility devices at that point. There is a strong demand here that is not being met. More trains, more buses.
I think publically-accessible underground tunnels would be nice. They help beat the heat on hot days, help beat the cold on cold days, and are overall very cool.
I like biking to work, but there aren't great ways to get into or off of the university campus to east where I live. Improved bike lanes across all of 13th east, a pedestrian bridge over 5th South near the track station, or improved bike lanes on South campus drive out Mario cappechi drive would all help.
End the Chartwells contract! The food costs are too high and the food quality is too low, we would benefit from insourcing some of the primary dining options (like KV or PHC) while then adding traditional outside vendors in place of the Chartwells-owned secondary options. Imagine a Raising Cane's, an Apollo Burger, and/or a Taco Bell on campus. Plus, we could then add a bakery, a creamery, and a grocery store to employ students and sell high-quality food in the Salt Lake area. If you're familiar with BYU at all, they apply this same system and it works beautifully. Why should we be letting them do something better than us?
Housing is being billed as an alternative to campus commuting/parking, but students who live on campus still need to be able to leave campus. UTA is years away from the levels of the DC Metro or New York subway, and still has multiple blind spots where students want to work, shop, eat, etc. Unless you plan on employing every student resident with competitive wages, and also duplicating every off-campus resource and amenity, people need to leave campus and that is going to include personal vehicles. That's the reality of the city and state we live in.
We must create a space where students can find ALL our campus resources. This includes reframed equity programs. This should
go in the new union building. This needs to be centralized and easy to find, unlike our current union where everything is very spread out. We also need to create more affordable food options on campus. It makes it very hard to eat on campus if we are unable to afford the food. We need to incorporate more chains besides Panda Express, as that historically has the biggest rush during peak hours, while still giving opportunities for local businesses, such as Beans & Brews. We need more places to relax on campus to be able to support students' mental health needs. Our students report higher mental health needs and we must create more resources and spaces to accommodate for that.
PLEASE update the fine arts building!! the elevator is haunted, the whole thing is made of depressing cinder block, half the bathrooms are leaky and gross most of the time. There are no gender-neutral bathroom, all the seats are horrible metal stools. It's supposed to be a creative space!
If you want to get rid of your reputation as a 'commuter campus,' you need to make your housing affordable. Salt Lake is an incredibly expensive city, and the current on-campus prices are laughable. Full-time students cannot work full-time. We cannot afford full-time employee prices. I don't think I'm insane for thinking college housing shouldn't go over 3 digits a month.
SKATEPARK!!! We need a permanent concrete skatepark. We already have one made of DIY obstacles that is run by the skateboarding club, but we need a long term solution.
"Best in class student experience" means providing students specific opportunities and resources to develop in leadership. This includes physical spaces for a women's resource center, center for ethnic student affairs, and LGBTQ+ resource center.
Something to add onto the school of music or the fine arts in general. The space is getting cramped and all the rooms are booked getting more expansion to that could help that part of the school thrive
Close campus on Fridays during the summer and pay staff for a 40-hour week (despite working 8 hours/day M-Th). Other universities do this to great degrees of success. Studies show that productivity does not decrease with this closure day, and the rewards are enormous: the U saves on energy/operating costs, SLC has less carbon emissions/pollution, and employee satisfaction and retention would greatly increase. This would be also be a cost-effective method for the U to show it values its employees and wants to retain them, in the absence of increasing pay to offset the skyrocketing costs of living in SLC.
Absolutely shameful that the University has shut down valuable student resources including the LGBT Resource Center, Dream Center, Women's Resource Center, and more. These organizations are crucial to a healthy and safe campus where everyone feels welcome. If the U has its students' interests at heart, it will reinstate each of these resources.
Please build no more multi-story buildings at the edge of single family home neighborhoods, as in those obliterating the view of the northern foothills. The new graduate/married student apartments on Foothill Drive are excessively extensive, will be contributing to more of the existing traffic problems, and are of an architectural style, repeated too often throughout the campus and the city, which in 10 years could be visually regretful. The lack of originality, focused on beauty and environment, is disappointing. The University flaunts its power and resources in ignoring nature and respect for the community, not a good example to set for coming generations it is meant to educate.
I recently walked around the new USA housing apartments and noticed that despite a lot of beautiful well done buildings, there was a huge lack of some basic necessities for residents. Looking through the lot it looks as if the entire area has been built into an apartment style food desert with no options for shopping for basic necessities and a high reliance on cars for its residents. As the U looks to break it "commuter school" reputation and design a campus that is more student forward, especially in cases where it is already removing some of the most in demand parking spaces around Kahlert Village this summer, it is critical that the U reduce the need for vehicles in general. Building out commercial spaces, creating better shuttle systems, among other features. One item that adds significant travel time, is that every building sits on an island between a giant lawn like we're in an oversprawled suburban setting. Build buildings closer together and design them for the long run.
Consideration for noise control from the stadium. Currently the noise goes blocks into the neighborhoods, an increasing issues as the stadium is used for so many non-u events.
For the empty lot on the corner of Penrose & Military Way (150N) between the U's Rosenblatt & Eccles houses, please consider keeping this as open space on all future plans.
Given the active fault that goes through there, nothing should ever be built on that empty lot regardless of whether there are loopholes to get around that. The University must set an example doing the right thing. In fact, any campus development plans for that should be required to have consultation with expert geologists. This empty lot could be a great educational park for science and the community at large- consult with the U's College of Science. Acessible sidewalks in this area along N Campus Dr. would also be a plus.
Thank you for putting out this request for ideas for UofU's future 10 year plan. I have several ideas that I am anxious to share with you:
1. The University should offer a Bachelor + Degree. To earn this +, a student would have to take 2 classes in the Environmental Department. One class can be in any classroom Environmental Discipline. It could be Computer Science, Marketing, Geology, Meteorology, Dietary, Environmental Science, Biology, etc. The other Environmental Class would be in the Field where they participate in Environmental projects like planting trees, removing invasive species, teaching Environmental Classes, putting on Environmental Seminars, Interning at Environmental Non-Profits like Sierra Club, O2, Utah Clean Air, Infrastructure Projects, and etc.
2. It's very easy to visualize an Environmental Zero Impact Building at the West end of the Stadium parking lot. The building stretching the entire width of 400-500 South, would have shops all along the main floor in front of the light rail stop. There would be breeze ways through this mall for passengers' access and a cafeteria with fresh food from the rooftop greenhouse. The second floor would ideally house commercial office space and have a large room that describes the Environmental attributes of the building. There would be displays reporting current and past measurements of Greenhouse Gasses like CO2 and CH4. Other displays would report Environmental tips and report weather events, ocean temperatures and currents, the harmfulness of plastics, and etc. There would be sources of filtered water on each floor. The floors above would be student housing. The roof on all sides would be covered with solar panels and wind turbines. There could be an aquaponic greenhouse and algae bioreactors that are fed CO2 from the buildings venting systems, HVAC, and water circulation. Battery packs will provide stored energy when the sun isn't shining.The building would be a showcase for a building that is fully contained zero impact building.
Our University claims that they are Environmental, but they are far from it. They could join Chapman University's Environmental Certification program but they know they would fail miserably. Weber and Utah State are doing far more. One of my pet peaves is how the display on the South end of the stadium seems to be on 24-7-365. How is wasting all that electricity Environmental? It sets an awful example to students, faculty, staff, and fans.
3. Our Biology Department should bring in Algae research. We were the only school in the Pac-12 not to study algae. There are Millions of research dollars available. It's not only financially lucrative, it's crucial to reverse global warming, keep toxic dust and algae blooms from occurring in Utah. It's a fact that Climate Change is due to the burning of Carbon based fuels. Our CO2 levels have gone from 75-125 ppm up to 455 ppm. The only way to reverse Global Warming is to remove greenhouse Gasses. Algae has been shown to be the best vehicle to accomplish this task.
4. Every building at the UofU should undergo an enviromental exam and be brought up to LEED Gold standards or Chapman University's Environmental Certification.
Please build some outdoor Pickleball courts on the U of U campus.
We are having major issues with students coming to public courts (11th Ave. Park) & taking over all the courts to play.
The game of Pickleball is a growing sport & I love seeing the students taking interest in the game but we need more courts for the player demands.
I would recommend building a least 6 to 8 Pickleball courts so your student body will be able to play on campus.
Thanks for sharing your future plans.
Part of what makes for an engaging collegiate "college town" experience is an easy connection to nearby commercial, restaurant, and entertainment options. While it's exciting to see the plans for the campus and how the campus itself might be improved, I don't know that the goal should be to create a self-contained environment where all conceivable needs will be met on campus, to the possible detriment of nearby businesses. It would be too bad to have a beautiful campus but then have it surrounded by a shuttered or struggling nearby commercial scene. Too late now, but so much of student housing, the medical complex, is isolated from any kind of symbiotic commercial areas. Perhaps the planners could try to do more to support a healthy connection with the commercial areas along 13th East and 2nd South?
The U needs more parking (probably through parking garages/structures). It is a joke to live and park on campus. You build all these new dorms and add little to no parking. My 2 children loved their time and classes and the U and the one thing disliked and discussed all the time was the parking. They had friends that opted to go else where for college because of the poor and lack of parking.
In addition to expanding the Student Union, parking, food, etc., I think an effort should be made to encourage more interaction among the faculty of upper and lower campuses. The core of this would be a faculty club accessible to both. (I have thought that a chair lift between upper and lower would be useful and a great symbol).
Have more and better dining options. The food trucks are fine, but not really. The Union Food Court's options are mediocre at best, but overall poor. Add cheap and decent places that people are familiar with and like. Subway, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Chick-Fil-A, etc. One J Dawgs and a Panda Express don't cut it.
The Campus Bike Shop is an excellent resource for our campus community that has been limited by the space provided. The current shop is only 144 sq.ft. which limits the amount of devices we can effectively service. Growth of this shop will both generate revenue for Auxiliary services while providing a more consistent resource for our active commuters. The current location is ideal, next to a main bicycle entry point to campus and adjacent to planned housing footprints but needs to grow to be able to support our ongoing campus population increase and needs to support the reduction of SOV trips to campus.
I would like to see a grocery store on upper campus for hospital employees, patients, and students living on campus. There is a void up here for convenient quality food, i.e. a grocery store. The goal is to have it close enough that people can walk or ride their bikes to it.
I would suggest a retail and grocery destination on campus such as a smaller sized Target. The Fort Douglas area could potentially be a location for it if there are plans for growth in this space. It would be helpful for students, employees, or campus guests with purchase needs who may not have transportation or the ability to go to further locations.
I would love to see a parking structure in conjunction with a larger union building. The union should also move the pantry onto the ground floor so that it is easily accessible for patrons (the elevator has been a large barrier for the pantry). I would also like to see a larger Feed U Pantry space to allow for more growth of the pantry. I'd also like to see more resources located in the union building to centralize resources on campus so students don't need to jump to as many different buildings.
We need a new union building to host a 40,000 student population as we are expecting to see that growth in the near future. We also need to see better AV hookups, and better parking. Food closes far too early for students with various schedules for both school and work, leaving some to go hungry if they rely on a campus meal plan for sustenance and cannot go at another time.
New union building, 24/7 food!!! Fix the parking issues, tickets for no reason and lack of parking. Better building for Games also, the power always dies which is not good for Games majors
Having more larger central spaces that events are able to happen. Having an updated elevator with larger space would help a ton with accessibility. More parking at a central point of campus would also be super beneficial.
The Union is an amazing place where incredible events take place. It would be great to have a modern and bigger Union. I believe a new Union should have more studying areas, a variety of food options, and definitely more parking spots!
Central area where clubs and events can happen that’s accessible for everyone. More of an open feel. Possibly a store to draw more people into the union, or spread out dining options, so people explore the building a bit more
The union is an incredibly important place on campus. We need the union to host many different events and organizations. The union helps bring people together and that is why it’s essential
I would love to see a new union established—a space where students can feel a sense of belonging, enjoy each other's company, dine, and embrace our diverse backgrounds. Additionally, increased parking availability would be appreciated.
The union is often overlooked because it needs to be updated to fit the new needs and wants of the students. It if it was larger, having more room and space for more places like restaurants to eat, it could be seen more as the central hub of campus. It is mostly only used for events and it should be seen more as a place where students can some get any help that they may need. The location of the Union also doesn't feel like the center of campus.
Also the Universal Design and Access Committee at every step of the process.
Here is it now
------------ rail
|exit
------------ sidewalk
Here is what it should be
------------------------ rail
|exit | also an exit
-------------------------- sidewalk
There is an excessive amount of walking uphill required to move to the exit/entrance to the station, only to usually walk back down to the front of the train. Ridiculous! I am about to start hopping the concrete barrier and walking up the rails to the station instead. Plus, it wouldn't be hard, either; just cut out the fence and paint a few lines on the road. Done!
go in the new union building. This needs to be centralized and easy to find, unlike our current union where everything is very spread out. We also need to create more affordable food options on campus. It makes it very hard to eat on campus if we are unable to afford the food. We need to incorporate more chains besides Panda Express, as that historically has the biggest rush during peak hours, while still giving opportunities for local businesses, such as Beans & Brews. We need more places to relax on campus to be able to support students' mental health needs. Our students report higher mental health needs and we must create more resources and spaces to accommodate for that.
Given the active fault that goes through there, nothing should ever be built on that empty lot regardless of whether there are loopholes to get around that. The University must set an example doing the right thing. In fact, any campus development plans for that should be required to have consultation with expert geologists. This empty lot could be a great educational park for science and the community at large- consult with the U's College of Science. Acessible sidewalks in this area along N Campus Dr. would also be a plus.
Thank you for putting out this request for ideas for UofU's future 10 year plan. I have several ideas that I am anxious to share with you:
1. The University should offer a Bachelor + Degree. To earn this +, a student would have to take 2 classes in the Environmental Department. One class can be in any classroom Environmental Discipline. It could be Computer Science, Marketing, Geology, Meteorology, Dietary, Environmental Science, Biology, etc. The other Environmental Class would be in the Field where they participate in Environmental projects like planting trees, removing invasive species, teaching Environmental Classes, putting on Environmental Seminars, Interning at Environmental Non-Profits like Sierra Club, O2, Utah Clean Air, Infrastructure Projects, and etc.
2. It's very easy to visualize an Environmental Zero Impact Building at the West end of the Stadium parking lot. The building stretching the entire width of 400-500 South, would have shops all along the main floor in front of the light rail stop. There would be breeze ways through this mall for passengers' access and a cafeteria with fresh food from the rooftop greenhouse. The second floor would ideally house commercial office space and have a large room that describes the Environmental attributes of the building. There would be displays reporting current and past measurements of Greenhouse Gasses like CO2 and CH4. Other displays would report Environmental tips and report weather events, ocean temperatures and currents, the harmfulness of plastics, and etc. There would be sources of filtered water on each floor. The floors above would be student housing. The roof on all sides would be covered with solar panels and wind turbines. There could be an aquaponic greenhouse and algae bioreactors that are fed CO2 from the buildings venting systems, HVAC, and water circulation. Battery packs will provide stored energy when the sun isn't shining.The building would be a showcase for a building that is fully contained zero impact building.
Our University claims that they are Environmental, but they are far from it. They could join Chapman University's Environmental Certification program but they know they would fail miserably. Weber and Utah State are doing far more. One of my pet peaves is how the display on the South end of the stadium seems to be on 24-7-365. How is wasting all that electricity Environmental? It sets an awful example to students, faculty, staff, and fans.
3. Our Biology Department should bring in Algae research. We were the only school in the Pac-12 not to study algae. There are Millions of research dollars available. It's not only financially lucrative, it's crucial to reverse global warming, keep toxic dust and algae blooms from occurring in Utah. It's a fact that Climate Change is due to the burning of Carbon based fuels. Our CO2 levels have gone from 75-125 ppm up to 455 ppm. The only way to reverse Global Warming is to remove greenhouse Gasses. Algae has been shown to be the best vehicle to accomplish this task.
4. Every building at the UofU should undergo an enviromental exam and be brought up to LEED Gold standards or Chapman University's Environmental Certification.
I hope these ideas will be implemented.
Thank you so much for asking for input.
We are having major issues with students coming to public courts (11th Ave. Park) & taking over all the courts to play.
The game of Pickleball is a growing sport & I love seeing the students taking interest in the game but we need more courts for the player demands.
I would recommend building a least 6 to 8 Pickleball courts so your student body will be able to play on campus.
Thanks for sharing your future plans.