DASNR environmental sciences students provide sustainability recommendations for OSU Campus Master Plan

Zach Butler, Katy Peters, Rob Seal and Travis Long – students in the Division’s environmental sciences senior design class this past spring – were engaged by OSU to determine how the university’s Campus Master Plan for 2025 could be sustainable over decades to come.

“We asked them to look at sustainability from various standpoints: the physical environment of the campus, landscaping and use of campus grounds as they relate to community interaction and health,” said Nigel Jones, university architect for OSU.

The students’ project built on previous work performed by a number of groups developing the Campus Master Plan, which was approved March 2007.

“They certainly enhanced some of the ideas we had and brought up concepts and recommendations that we hope to implement,” Jones said. “They also helped by reinforcing the need to address some areas that we had identified earlier.”

The Sustainability Student Team: (from left) Rob Seal, Katy Peters, Travis Long and Zach Butler. (Photo by Sherry Grussing)

Butler, a plant and soil sciences major and native of Cushing who had the responsibility for examining open spaces on campus, ran headfirst into one of the “areas of interest” while walking across campus one day.

“I saw a person in a wheelchair get run off a skinny sidewalk by a group of co-eds who were walking while talking on their cell phones,” Butler said. “There are always going to be people who don’t pay attention, but skinny sidewalks in high traffic areas don’t help.”

This led to specific recommendations, such as putting in different types of effective yet aesthetically pleasing barriers such as pole-and-chains or hedges; implementing a campus-wide “stay off the grass” campaign; and increasing the size of sidewalks that measure 6.5 feet to 12 feet.

General recommendations included planting more vegetation, putting in more benches, less parking lots in the interior of campus and more areas available for community interaction.

“Lack of vegetation can easily lead to soil compaction and erosion, especially in heavy traffic zones,” Butler said.

Peters, an environmental sciences major and native of Plano, Texas, drew one of the most high-profile and contentious issues at any university: transportation.

“We determined that OSU was spending $30 per parking space per year on maintenance and $68 per space per year on administration and enforcement,” Peters said. “Then there are the construction costs of providing new parking, which can skyrocket depending on where you want to build.”

It did not take Peters and her cohorts long to determine that a sustainable OSU would need to develop alternative transportation opportunities. Areas of focus included emergency vehicle access; American Disability Act requirements; current and future levels of pedestrian traffic, bicycle traffic and alternate automobile use; and increased promotion and route refinement of the OSU bus system.

“Areas of pedestrian traffic need greater separation from bike paths,” Peters said. “But OSU gets good marks for its emergency poles, where pedestrians can call for assistance, and its high number of accessibility ramps. You can tell the university has made a commitment in these areas, and that commitment needs to continue.”

Bicycle riders have it more difficult.

Jones said the essential challenge is improving the way riders and walkers move across campus. Options might include separated paths, the widening of current paths to provide more user-friendly integrated routes and restricting access by cyclists to certain high-traffic pedestrian areas.

“Bicycling is a healthy lifestyle and a way for OSU to promote physical fitness,” Peters said, “which potentially could provide other benefits such as reduced health care costs and greater socialization of students and staff.”

Other recommendations for encouraging bicycle use included the development of specific benefits tied to license registration and an increase in the number of police bicyclists.

Economically viable, environmentally friendly practices and technology took center stage when the group focused on landscaping.

“High-efficiency irrigation systems are up to 35 percent more efficient than OSU turning on a bunch of sprinklers and letting them run all hours of the day and night,” said Seal, a conservation sciences major. “OSU needs to make greater use of alternate water sources such as Lake Carl Blackwell, grey water and stormwater runoff.”

A particular focus of the student group was providing ways OSU might promote a greater feeling of campus ownership in terms of landscape design and maintenance.

“Money is always a concern,” Seal said. “But OSU has landscape architecture, horticulture and botany students who have (applicable) knowledge and skills, and would jump at opportunities to put them to work, especially as part of a paid internship.”

Some of the group’s recommendations were directly related to OSU’s Stillwater campus expanding numerous times over the course of more than 100 years.

Long, an environmental sciences major and native of Collinsville, said a huge surprise was that OSU has older buildings on campus that are not metered.

“How can Physical Plant be expected to efficiently manage electric usage when the infrastructure is not there?” Long said.

Long and his compatriots calculated 2006 utility costs to be approximately $11.7 million for the 4.15 million square feet on campus, which included chilled water generation and distribution, electricity generation and distribution, steam distribution, power plant overhead, utility services, water treatment, water plan overhead, various distribution systems and sewer.

“We found utility costs over the years have been increasing at a greater rate than the rate of inflation,” Long said. “That’s not good for OSU.”

The environmental sciences students also came up with recommendations that might help the university reduce the negative effects of excessive energy demand, provided appropriate steps were taken early in the design process of new construction.

“It’s possible to minimize energy needs by using low-demand lighting systems and natural light where possible,” Long said. “OSU must be able to monitor indoor environmental quality, and use of low-emitting materials, effective ventilation, natural daylight and adjustable lighting systems can all provide positive benefits.”

Water efficiency recommendations targeted conservation practices, reusable systems and even rainfall collection from rooftops.

Jones said the students were particularly interested in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

“We’re not currently implementing LEED certification because it can add 5 percent to 10 percent to the cost of construction,” Jones said. “However, OSU meets many of the energy efficiency and environmental criteria.”

Jones had high praise for the students and the way in which their project has helped to focus specific discussion topics related to improving campus systems.

“Everything stems from the Campus Master Plan,” Seal said. “Some people may want to blow it off, but the plan is important, it’s the guide. If sustainability is part of the plan then the campus is more likely to be sustainable because people are going to periodically review the plan.”

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PHOTO CREDITS:
Campus bus system and bicyclist photos by Todd Johnson, OSU Agricultural Communications Services

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E-Mail: donald.stotts@okstate.edu

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