Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 15 December 8, 1994 - BOV briefed on projects

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

BOV briefed on projects

By Sookhan Ho

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 15 - December 8, 1994

The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Visitors was briefed on various building projects at its November 14 meeting by Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Ray Smoot and University Architect Peter Karp.

Karp noted that "capital projects are in good shape and running well," with the exception of the architecture facility, which is about three months behind schedule and over budget. He said management strategies have been put in place to control costs and make up for lost time. The partly underground expansion to Cowgill Hall will be moved some feet back from the plaza to avoid any injury to existing trees on the plaza.

Karp showed preliminary drawings for the student health and fitness center and playing fields for athletics, including the track/soccer complex, and a site plan and preliminary designs for the new Northern Virginia Graduate Center.

The Fiber Optics facilty is expected to be completed later this month while conversion of Major Williams is on schedule for completion next June. The Fralin Biotechnology Center is on schedule for completion next July. As for the new coal-fired boiler, the university is waiting for a final emissions permit from the state before proceeding with scheduling, budgeting, and working drawings.

Karp said that the computer modeling of the stormwater-management study (a joint undertaking of the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech) was complete. Specific solutions would be proposed in the phasing plan, to be completed by the end of January. A drainage and water-quality control facility--the first of several--would be installed in the area of the vet school hospital, starting next year. He said that the final cost, probably more than $600 million, has not been finalized.

Smoot and Spencer Hall, assistant vice president for facilities, discussed Virginia Tech's participation and appointment to the proposed Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority. Smoot said that the university participated with Montgomery County and the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg in preparing and submitting to the state a cooperative plan on managing solid waste. The four parties have proposed to set up an authority under the Virginia Water and Sewer Authorities Act with powers to collect, transport, and dispose of solid waste on a regional basis.

Hall said the university as well as the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg are currently customers of the county's landfill, which is estimated to have a remaining life of three to seven years. Participating as a member of the proposed new authority would enable the university (and the two towns) to have some control over fee setting and costs associated with a proposed new landfill in Pulaski County, to be owned and operated by the New River Resource Authority. A public hearing on this issue is scheduled for today, December 8.