Why develop the golf course when UM owns other property that is ripe for redevelopment - such as the outdated family housing buildings known as the “X's” at the base of Mount Sentinel.
Why carve up the property to resemble a smaller replica of the “mountain campus” - Oval and all - when the land could be more efficiently used by clustering new structures, preserving as much open space as possible and serving as a model “green” campus?
So went the questions from the public at a meeting Wednesday night to discuss the nearly complete draft plan of UM's long-term vision for the land that is currently home to the school's nine-hole golf course.
A crowd of 40-some concerned Missoula residents, including faculty, homeowners, golfers, business owners and retirees, gathered in the University Center to learn firsthand how plans for the treasured - albeit campus-owned - open space have evolved.
In the current plan, which will likely be finalized by September, UM's South Campus will be home to an indoor athletic facility, additional student housing, research facilities, classrooms, parking lots and more recreational fields.
After an hourlong discussion about how the current plan has been hammered out since the South Campus master plan committee first began meeting in January, 14 people from the audience stepped up to the microphone to offer their thoughts.
There were plenty of questions, but far more audience members had suggestions, most of which fell into just a few categories: make more room on the mountain campus by using what's there more efficiently; build up not out; cluster research and doctoral programs on the South Campus, don't make undergraduates have to run back and forth between campuses to get to class; don't replicate a “stodgy” campus model, as is portrayed in the current draft plan.
For their part, members of committee listened respectively, took notes and in some instances agreed the suggestions were good ideas and that they should be incorporated into what will be the final draft plan.
Most of the committee members were on hand to answer questions, listen and learn from the audience. Most of the questions were answered by Rosemary Keller, associate vice president for administration and finance, and Kevin Krebsbach, associate director of UM's Facilities Services.
The plan, they said, identifies the committee's priorities and does not include alumni housing.
Acknowledging the plan as just that - a plan - Keller would not promise changes could not be made in the future when she's gone. But as it stands now, she said, the plan doesn't include alumni housing.
When asked when the development will be phased in, Keller explained when funding is available.
When asked if there are any pending projects for the property now being discussed by UM administrators, she explained that because the Montana Legislature approved money for UM to begin planning a long-needed expansion for the College of Technology, there has been some talk of relocating it to the golf course.
If such a move occured, it would likely be five to six years out, providing it gets funding from lawmakers in the next legislative session.
However, if a donor walked up to Jim O'Day, UM's athletic director, and said he had $ 3 million to build a new athletic facility , Keller said: “I think we would probably start moving on it.”
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