With its Mountain Campus enrollment expected to reach 25,000 by 2020, NAU will be a perpetual construction zone over the next 10 years as it addresses issues ranging from student housing to traffic circulation, becoming an even larger segment of greater Flagstaff's population:
NAU's north campus, with Reilly Hall in foreground
(source: http://www.nau.edu/text/webcam.shtml)
Mountain Campus buildout a challenge to all
Arizona Daily Sun Editorial
September 26, 2010
Quick -- name the single, fastest-growing part of Flagstaff amid the recession. It's the NAU campus, of course, which has moved in a counter-cyclical direction to the region's economy. The larger question, however, is what happens on the Mountain Campus when the recession is over and how will it affect greater Flagstaff? NAU's recent growth is part of a national trend in higher education: As the economy contracts, there are fewer entry-level jobs, and those that come open are filled by older, more experienced workers laid off from higher-paying jobs, leaving new high school grads out in the cold. Instead, they have flocked to low-cost public universities and community colleges -- enrollment at the former is up an average of 6 percent in each of the past three years. At NAU, that figure is closer to 8 percent, thanks in part to aggressive marketing and a capped tuition plan. That's a cumulative increase of close to 30 percent in a few short years and, as Hillary Davis reports today, it has the Mountain Campus bursting at the seams.
But NAU isn't stopping there, recession or not. Driven in part by a Board of Regents mandate to increase dramatically the number of college graduates in Arizona, NAU officials have developed a master plan to hike enrollment on the Mountain Campus from 17,500 to 25,000 by 2020.
That would be a doubling of the campus student population from what it was in 2005, accompanied by increases -- albeit less dramatic -- in faculty and staff. Meanwhile, the estimated population of greater Flagstaff in those 15 years, minus the college students, isn't likely to grow more than 20 percent, if that much, according to the Census and other estimates. Further, the non-college-student population of greater Flagstaff, in real numbers, is today just 60,000. Even if it reaches 75,000 by 2020, that means 25,000 college students would make up fully a quarter of the total regional population of 100,000. In other words, if Flagstaff is considered a "college town" today, it will certainly be even more so 10 years from now.
PERPETUAL CONSTRUCTION ZONE
What will all that growth mean to local residents? Let's break it down into several categories. First, there is the buildout on the Mountain Campus. Currently, there is 3.25 million square feet of existing academic and support facilities. With a cumulative projected increase in enrollment of more than 36 percent by 2020, the Flagstaff campus will need to add 1.2 million square feet of new buildings, in addition to the renovation or replacement of more than 500,000 square feet of existing substandard facilities. Add to that an extensive realignment of streets and the creation of new parks and "greenways," and
the Mountain Campus is going to be a perpetual construction zone from one end to the other for the next decade. That is good news for the local construction industry, assuming it gets its fair share of the contracts. But for anyone trying to drive a private vehicle onto or through campus, the congestion is likely to mean a much longer trip than was the case just a few short years ago.
FEWER PARKING TICKETS?
That leads us to the second impact, which is traffic. On campus, there will be a dedicated north-south busway that connects to the city's Mountain Line bus system. Existing parking lots near the center of campus will be eliminated in favor of more outlying parking garages. At least local residents whose main contact with NAU has been the parking ticket enforcement office won't have to worry -- they simply won't be able to drive onto campus anymore. But what about all those extra students driving around town on already congested city streets? We can only hope they will take more buses. The plus side is that they will be spending more money on food, clothing and electronics, which benefits local retailers.
The housing issue is a little more serious. Right now, NAU can house about half its 17,500 students on campus. Plans call for adding only about 1,000 more beds in 10 years while the student population grows by 7,500. That means that by 2020, there will be more than 13,000 students looking for housing in the community, where rents are already among the highest in the state. With that kind of increased demand, the pressure to convert single-family houses to multi-student rentals will only increase, driving up the cost of housing in Flagstaff still further -- including for incoming faculty.
If ever there was a need for a town-gown partnership to develop new, affordable housing on a massive scale, this is it. Otherwise, unaffordable housing will continue to be the single biggest drag on the city's ability to attract and keep new businesses.
EVEN MORE TOWN-GOWN COLLABORATION
Finally, a word about scale and process. We preface these remarks by reiterating our enthusiasm for Flagstaff as a true college town. From its sports teams and its commitment to diversity to its support for cultural events and the venues in which to hold them, NAU remains an asset that any small city in the Mountain West would love to have. We'd only ask that as its impact on the Flagstaff region's economy and infrastructure grows even more, it takes the extra step to include the locals in its planning. The 2010 master plan lists only a city planner and regional planner among the two dozen people credited with putting it together -- not a single local business or civic leader. We talked last week in this space about the need for even more town-gown collaboration and partnerships. When the campus master plan is next updated, we hope to see a broader list of names on the acknowledgements page.
Serving this week on the Daily's Sun's Editorial Advisory Board were Publisher Don Rowley, Editor Randy Wilson and citizen members Barb Cage, Joy Staveley, William Lowell Putnam, Cyndy Woods-Wilson, Steve Robinson, Joyce R. Browning and Kurt Wildermuth.
2010 Mountain Campus Master Plan
Phase 1 - First Moves
The 2010 master plan began with several projects under construction, beginning renovations, or in planning and development, including the Health and Learning facility, renovation of the Skydome, and the new Native American Cultural Center. This first phase also identified work required to enable new building projects to proceed or to demolish or replace existing substandard facilities, including replacement of aging boilers and the upgrading of the data/telecommunications center in the north plant.
Critical first moves included identifying sites for the continued expansion and replacement of laboratory facilities within the sciences core, and for a shared academic resources building, with classroom and flexible office space, to facilitate replacement of the math, geology and science buildings. The transit spine will also be part of the first phase implementation, along with a major parking garage on San Francisco (after demolition of the Fronske Health Center). New housing on campus, provided by a private developer, will initially add 576 beds in apartment-type housing on the east side of San Francisco, and an additional 500 beds in suite-type units on the proposed pedway bridge to the south campus. Along with the transit spine, planned improvements to the pedway will improve circulation across the campus for more efficient utilization of academic resources in both the north and south campus cores.
PHASE 2 - The Next 10+ Years
The next phase looks at meeting the enrollment growth goals of the 2020 plan, with expanded academic research and housing space. While the new academic facilities in the first phase were primarily in the north core, this phase expands facilities in the south core, allowing demolition of several substandard buildings. Infill projects in mid-campus serve to connect the academic cores and enliven the pedway with active uses. New housing includes the removal of central surface parking lots and replacing Runke Drive with a central greenway, Observatory Way, connecting housing east of San Francisco to the central pedway.
https://www4.nau.edu/cas/Plan-Dev/CampusPlanning.html