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Salem Sate College Advisory Board Minutes 4/25/2011
Salem state University Neighborhood Advisory Committee
April 25, 2011 – Minutes

Attendees:      Beth Bower, Jason Doviak, Maureen Fry, Jack Hoar, Marcia Lambert, Joseph O’Keefe, Jason Silva, and Andrew Soll

Absent: Julie Goutzos, Robert McCarthy, John Ronan, James Rose, and John Walsh

Guests: Michael Lambert (Division of Capital Asset Management); Joseph Berry, Christopher Penny, and Bob O’Leary (Lee Kennedy Co. Inc.); Leif Lamoray (Leftfield Inc.); Friends of Pickman Park Representatives; Linwood & Anne Marie Balentine, David Coleman, Michael & Stephanie Eugenio, Alan Gansenberg, and Dana Lothrop

NEW MEMBER OF SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY NEIGHBORHOOD ADVISORY COMMITTEE
  • Jason Doviak, Associate Director of Athletics, will now represent the Student Life Division of Salem State University. Former representative Kathy Neville has taken a job with the School of Graduate Studies.
PICKMAN PARK PLAYGROUND INSTALLATION
  • The city has allocated $30,000 for the Pickman Park project. The Friends of Pickman Park have been working on this project and additional fundraising since September. They have sold hats, t-shirts and raffle tickets to raise additional funds. Hats and t-shirts are still available for purchase.
  • The playground will be made out of recycled and environmentally friendly materials. There will be both a 2-to-5 year old component, as well as a 5-to-12 year old component. The playground will have a longer footprint than the existing one and will be further away from the street and closer to the community garden (which will replace the tennis court). The ground will be covered in wood chips.
  • The installation will be scheduled in May or June. The committee will seek volunteer labor support and will get a date to the university so that they can promote the volunteer opportunity on campus.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
  • Library and Learning Commons
  • Andy Soll introduced Mike Lambert from the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) and Bob O’Leary, Chris Penny and Joe Berry from Lee Kennedy Company Inc., who attended the meeting to answer any questions about the project.
  • Demolition of Existing Building
  • The removal of the brick panels has begun. This phase of demolition will focus on the back 20 percent of the building (away from Lafayette Street).
  • The next five to seven weeks will consist of the removal of brick infill panels between the structural beams and the columns. The structural demolition on this portion of the building will follow. The initial phase will include the removal of windows, which will be stored in the building for the time being, and brick infill, which will be sorted and stored in the building until a full load is ready to be removed by truck. No debris will be stored outside the building.
  • No trucks have removed debris as of yet. Trucks will be onsite soon for debris removal, but the schedule will be sporadic with three to four trucks per week over an eight to ten week period. There will be no stacking of trucks. Campus police will be notified as needed to assist truck traffic leaving campus onto Lafayette Street.
  • Construction of New Facility
  • The contractor has made good progress and will continue work on the relocation of underground utilities to prepare the site for the new building.
  • Update on issues raised at last meeting
  • The series banner has been removed.
  • The vibration monitors in question were all installed prior to the start of demolition.
  • The university reached out to Ms. Knight to set up a meeting with Mike Lambert from DCAM and is waiting to hear back on a meeting date. Mr. Lambert did connect with Ms. Knight via email and has sent her the response from the insurance company regarding her claim.
  • All emergency calls/concerns should be directed to Campus Police’s 24-hour line at 978.542.6111. Non-emergency calls from the neighborhood can be directed to External Affairs at 978.542.7757.
  • Former Weir Property
  • Data Center
  • The Data Center project is underway in the Stanley Building. This is all interior work with exception of roof-top condensers for the air conditioning and the emergency generator. The emergency generator and necessary computer racks are on order, and the university is waiting on delivery to complete the project.  The target completion date is end of June.
  • Marsh Hall
  • Leif Lamoray reported on the noise Mr. Coleman is hearing from the Marsh Hall roof. Mr. Lamoray stated that during an investigation of the equipment, it was discovered that rooftop unit 1 was emitting a high pitched sound coupled with a low pitched hum. Mr. Coleman said this seemed to match the sound he was hearing. This piece of equipment was monitored and is believed to have a malfunctioning motor. A new motor is scheduled to be installed this week. Mr. Lamoray will alert Adria Leach when the motor is installed so that she can alert Mr. Coleman and the committee.
  • Summer Work
  • The Sullivan Building will undergo renovations in the basement to provide improved classroom and laboratory space for the theater program (all work will be internal).
  • The O’Keefe Center will also have select internal renovations to create a new laboratory.
  • The external components expected from these projects are occasional truck traffic and dumpsters.
NEIGHBORHOOD DISTURBANCES
  • There are no current issues.
PARKING
  • The university has been educating students regarding parking areas on campus. Campus Police has recorded sticker numbers of Marsh and Atlantic Hall resident students, and students caught parking overnight with these stickers should have lost their parking privileges.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Balentine reported that students are parking cars without stickers in front of their home on Loring Avenue and are walking back and forth to the residence halls. Mrs. Balentine added that she often follows students to ask them to move their cars further back from her driveway and that some have responded rudely.
  • Councillor O’Keefe reported that Lt. Preczewski informed him that the state would not approve a resident parking only option for Loring Avenue. Because it is a state highway, pursuing resident parking would most likely lead to a complete parking ban on Loring Avenue from Jefferson Avenue to Vinnin Square.  For this reason, Councillor O’Keefe indicated he would not pursue resident parking.
  • Mr. Gansenberg asked if parking could be added in the grassy area at the bottom of the Upper South Campus hill. – The city responded that this was looked at previously, but the state would not approve the curb cuts onto the state highway.
  • Mrs. Balentine reported that there has been no enforcement from Salem Police since the last snow storm. She also requested that all cars on Loring Avenue get a flier regarding the campus parking as some students do not have stickers.  
  • The university informed the group that flyers were handed out to all resident students and meetings were held to discuss parking in the campus lots. The university cannot address the cars parked that do not have a university sticker.
  • Jason Silva and Councillor O’Keefe stated that they would contact Chief Tucker at Salem Police to discuss a more aggressive ticketing campaign.
  • Jack Hoar recommended that the Balentines contact Salem Police when cars are in violation.
  • External Affairs will work with Executive Vice President Cahill as planning proceeds for next fall and will look at ways to address this issue during student orientation. Mrs. Balentine requested that the university provide students a more detailed explanation of the parking rules and how to be a good neighbor. She also suggested having an article placed in the Log.
ISSUES IN PROGRESS
  • HVAC System at Building 1 Update
  • The data center in Building 1 is scheduled to be moved to its new location starting the week of June 13 with a targeted completion date of June 30. Once the equipment is moved, the DX units behind Building 1 will be decommissioned. The cooling tower will still operate but will be set to shut down around 9 pm each evening.
  • Mr. Eugenio noted that there is a machine operating all night from the roof top units on Building 1. This was an issue previously addressed directly through the university, but the problem has returned. – Andrew Soll responded that the interim library in Building 1 was open 24 hours during the finals period in December, which would cause the unit to run through the night. The system was not reset to the regular schedule after finals. Facilities had reset the system, but Mr. Soll will have it rechecked because of the new report.
  • Baseball Field
  • Mr. Gansenberg stated that the university has been good through the baseball season this past year, but that he has some concerns with the summer rental schedule and parking. He noted that there was a Salem High School baseball game this afternoon and that there were 28 cars parked on Monroe Road. He requested that the university reiterate the parking terms with all rental teams.
  • The university confirmed that all rental groups receive the parking terms prior to their rental date and that teams are required to share this information with their spectators and opponents. They added that Salem High has had an administrator at each game.
  • Central Campus Environmental Updates
  • No new updates. The report is near completion.
  • Loring Avenue Traffic Study at Raymond Road
  • Fay, Spafford and Throndike (FST) performed a study of pedestrian and vehicular traffic at the Raymond Road/Loring Avenue junction. The study examined the intersections of Loring Avenue at Broadway and Raymond Road. The university is sharing the cost of the study with the city.
  • The city and the university have just received the preliminary report and will review. Results will be shared with the community through a future SSUNAC meeting, and Raymond Road residents will be notified.
MEETING SCHEDULE
  • The next meeting will be on Monday, May 16, at 6:00 p.m. in the Enterprise Center Training Room B located on Central Campus at 121 Loring Avenue.