The MSU Board of Trustees will hold a special "discussion only" portion of its regular public committee meetings Friday to discuss budget concerns and the redevelopment of University Village.
The discussion will take place as part of the trustees' Finance and Audit Committee agenda, and will be a time for the trustees and the community to get an update of some issues the board is facing, Trustee Melanie Foster said.
The committees meet publicly Fridays before the full board meeting is called to order. Trustees typically vote to refer all action items to the full board for a final decision.
Holding a discussion-only session in committee meetings does not happen often.
The University Village project is a plan to knock down the existing buildings in the complex and replace them with smaller, upscale apartments geared toward undergraduates. The village currently houses mostly graduate and international students and their families.
"When the (University Village project) was first brought to our attention, we realized how long the project had progressed without the Board of Trustees offering input," Foster said.
She added that when the project was announced, it came as quite a shock to both students living in and out of the development and residents of the surrounding community. Since the idea has progressed, she said, University Housing officials have done a better job of including the community in their conversations.
Chuck Gagliano, assistant vice president for Housing & Food Services, said his office has set up informational meetings with student government leaders and area residents to give them a chance to be part of the discussions.
"In all of those discussions, either the contractor, the designer, or both have been present," Gagliano said. "Individuals could give their input and get instant feedback."
He said the concept of the new complex as a "shared space" between residents and students came out of those discussions.
Because the new construction will occupy only a fraction of the land currently covered by buildings, the new University Village will have a large green space that both students and East Lansing residents can share, Gagliano said.
"We wanted to take this opportunity to create someplace both students and residents can get together," Gagliano said.
The close proximity might heal "some of the disconnect" between the two groups that has developed through the years, Gagliano said.
Jim Lorenz, a member of the Red Cedar Community Association and the university's staff, said the dialogue between MSU and local residents had been positive for both. He said the community, which surrounds the complex, had a number of initial concerns when they first heard about the project.
"It's going to be a different dynamic," said Lorenz, a programmer and analyst for MSU's department of Health Information Technology. "We worried about what effect it would have on life in the neighborhood."
He said the university has put many of the community's concerns to rest through the informational sessions.
Andrew Schepers, chairperson of ASMSU's Student Assembly, said University Housing officials had put forth the effort to get student opinion as the project developed. When the plan was first announced, Schepers said student organizations were "blindsided" by the project.
"They have been keeping ASMSU in the loop," Schepers said.
Foster said it was this kind of inclusion that prompted adding the discussion session to the regular board meeting. Having open discussion on topics the board was not planning to act on was a way for the board to modify the way it handled the approval of big construction projects.
"We want to review our practices so a project in the planning stages is shared with the community," Foster said.
Josh Jarman can be reached at jarmanjo@msu.edu.
