University
Environment Committee
Thursday,
February 26, 2009 in Room 140 Rawl Annex, 3:30 pm
Presiding: Jill
Twark
Regular members in attendance: D. Lawrence, C. Hodson, H. McKinnon, J. Twark, A. Gross-McMillan, M. Montgomery
Ex officio members in attendance:
Guests:
Jeff Ashbaugh, Site Solutions
Derek Williams, Site Solutions
Mike Hammersby, Corley Redfoot Zack, Inc.
Andy Cruickshank, Corley Redfoot Zack, Inc.
JJ McLamb, Athletics
Robert Brown, Facilities Engineering and Architectural Services (FEAS)
Ron Mitchelson, UNCTomorrow
Pat Long, Center for Sustainable Tourism
1. Review and Approval of
Minutes from January 22 meeting.
The minutes were unanimously approved.
2. Report from J.J. McLamb,
Bill Koch, and Site Solutions/Corley Redfoot Zack design team from
McLamb: The proposal includes a
new 1000-seat softball stadium, an 1000-seat soccer stadium, a practice track,
12 tennis courts, and an Olympic sport building.
Ashbaugh and Williams (Site
Solutions):
The site is at the corner of
Issues/questions raised by the
committee:
·
sitelines
The track will be below
keep the view of the complex from the road as open as
possible.
·
drainage issues for
parking lot and tennis courts
Suggestions included semi-permeable pavement, catch
ponds, irrigation for playing fields, and swales (rain gardens or green spaces
with water-absorbent plants planted in them) .
·
lighting
The soccer field and softball field will be fully lit
with 100-foot lights.
Technology can address energy-efficiency and
spillage.
The
committee suggested exploring solar electricity and rooftop copper pipes or
other solar options for producing hot water.
·
funding
The
project is being funded by Athletics.
Gross-McMillan: It is important to think beyond standard
procedures and consider new and more sustainable ways of doing new
construction.
·
timeframe
Phase One, the softball stadium, will start in July 2009
for completion in February 2010.
Phase Two, the soccer stadium, track, team building, and
parking lot expansion will be
completed in 2011.
Phase Three, the tennis courts, will be completed in
2012.
·
trees
Gill:
Removed trees have traditionally been replaced at 2-1 or 3-1
ratio.
This
project would feature replanting at a 2-1 ratio.
Some
trees may be relocated to other parts of the campus.
·
Irrigation
The project will use city water.
Twark: Perhaps a large cistern could be added to the site to catch
rainwater for irrigation.
3. Report from Tom Pohlman (EH&S
Environment Manager) and/or Ariel Lopez on planning for Earth Day and other
student initiatives. (10 min.)
Pohlman and Lopez were not in
attendance.
Koch: Students are continuing to work on
recycling and will possibly undertake a small, achievable Earth Day
project.
Gill: Facilities has been planting trees
for International Studies in order to reduce the carbon footprint of ECU’s study
abroad programs. The Library’s green task force has also sponsored tree
planting.
4. UNC Tomorrow (Ron Mitchelson, Pat
Long)
UNC Tomorrow is working on a
Phase III report on sustainability progress. The goal is to have sustainability as a
core value. The Phase I report
asked for a sustainability coordinator, but this was not funded. Mitchelson and Long are inventorying
sustainability activities in both facilities and instructional/research
areas. Mitchelson will share this
report with the UEC. Mitchelson
would also like to see the Chancellor sign off on a sustainability/climate
statement, an idea that has been rejected in the past.
5. Discussion of potential
student Service-Learning project on determining the viability of placing light
windmills at select, open locations on campus. (10 min.)
The company selling the
windmills is Bluesunrenew.com.
There was discussion of whether eastern NC has sufficient wind to make
the windmills a good investment.
Mitchelson has access to weather data.
There was a motion to adjourn
and the meeting was adjourned at 5pm.
Next meeting (3/26, 3:30pm):
Bill Bagnell presentation on
energy use and conservation at ECU
Ariel Lopez presentation on
student Earth Day project