Algonquin College finalizing future vision for the campus
College staff overseeing the 10-year Master Campus Development Plan held one of their final consultation sessions on Nov. 4 in Nawapon at C-building.
The meeting was to get final thoughts on the future of the Algonquin College Woodroffe campus before presenting a final proposal to the board of directors.
Staff went through current contraction plans for the college, focusing on increasing building demolition, creating a greener walkable campus and introducing the LRT station.
They laid out the big moves they were proposing to combat the campus’ challenges, including renewing and building the entry from Navaho Drive, creating a more welcoming and livable campus, enhancing edges, entries and connections with the community, establishing a diverse green space and safely facilitating travel modes on campus.
Representatives from Urban Strategies, an urban planning department company hired as a consultant on the plan, went through their sections.
Tim Smith, principal of Urban Strategies, and Eric Turcotte, a partner of Urban Strategies, spoke about the demolition aspect of the plan. Photos were shown with certain buildings in red, yellow and green. Red buildings are where short- or medium-term development would occur.
“We will demolish buildings with a significant need for maintenance since in the long term, they will cost less to demolish and rebuild them than continuing to invest money into them,” said Turcotte.
Considering the age of the campus, trying to maintain certain buildings would not help keep the campus fresh.
“Part of the solution to this is not constantly reinvesting in these buildings but actually to begin demolishing buildings and building new ones,” said Smith.
Many buildings eyed for demolition are smaller or less used. On the other hand, structures like B-building are large and too expensive to demolish.
Their plan highlights demolishing older buildings first, such as F, H and A buildings, to create new multipurpose buildings with the lower level being academic space and the upper level being residential areas.
The plan envisions creating more green space on campus and social areas outside for students to use, as well as enhancing the campus edges with the community to help create a welcoming and livable environment.
Koala Attry, a baking and pastry art management student, is interested in the idea of creating more recreational spaces
“I came from India and used to play a lot of cricket. It would be nice to have an area or grounds where people could play cricket. I find there are green areas but no recreation areas,” said Attry, who attended the consultation.
Other parts of the plan aim to increase the ability for people to travel to and from campus. With the LRT station being added and with Baseline Station turning into Algonquin Station, the team is aiming for more people to take advantage of public transportation.
Concerns about people driving and parking on campus were brought up.
Jeff Agate, associate director of Students Support Services, asked the team if the size of the parking lot would be affected by construction since the plan is pushing for more green space and transit use.
“When we are looking at development, we are looking at a lower level or underground parking in order to facilitate building growth,” said Ryan Southwood, executive director of Facilities Management.
