Trustees: Olentangy Plain District Plan,Construction, Budget Items

OFFICIALS REPORT ON OLENTANGY PLAIN DISTRICT PLANNING

     COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on
Friday (12/5) heard a report about campus planning efforts in the
Olentangy Plain District.  The board approved construction
contracts and authorized design and approved a number of smaller
capital improvement projects.  The board also heard an annual
budget report and conducted other business.

Trustees hear report on Olentangy Plain District Plan

     Trustees took a first look at the university's Olentangy
Plain District Plan, the latest in a series of documents that
examines planning and development in each of the diverse areas
that make up The Ohio State University.  After review and input,
the board is expected to vote on the document at its Feb. 6
meeting.

     The area is bounded generally by state Route 315 on the
west, Lane Avenue on the south, the Olentangy River and the
Wetlands Research Park on the east, and Ackerman Road on the
north.

     A large part of the district is part of the university's
green reserve, and the plan preserves the large open spaces, as
well as the wetlands research park, as such. It also creates a
green reserve corridor by connecting the wetlands park to an
arboretum west of Fred Taylor Drive.

     While the plan reinforces established land uses in the
southern two-thirds of the area, it recommends that the northern
third of the district be converted to more intensive long-range
development of residential, research, office and institutional
uses.

     The plan contains a long-term recommendation to develop
Buckeye Village, the married student housing complex, into a
higher density residential development and suggests undertaking a
feasibility study to validate composition and viability.  It
suggests an area adjacent to the Schottenstein Center as a
potential site for a parking structure and recommends structured
parking for development sites near Ackerman Road.

     The plan also identifies as development sites locations near
the Woody Hayes Athletic Complex, the Schottenstein Center and
the Fawcett Center.

Trustees approve contracts for construction work

     Trustees awarded construction contracts for an addition to
Parks Hall, renovated nursing stations in the James Cancer
Hospital and seating in the Schottenstein Center.  They heard a
report on contracts for 34 projects, each of less than $1
million, that already had been approved, authorized design work
for three projects and approved five small capital improvement
projects for 1998.

     At Parks Hall, a 6,000-square-foot addition will house a
pharmaceutical care center, multimedia classroom, communications
lab, student meeting rooms, clinical faculty offices, and a mall
to connect the new structure with the existing facility.  Labs on
the third and fourth floors will be renovated, as will some
student areas.  The total project cost is $2.1 million, with the
bulk of funding provided by the state and the remainder from the
College of Pharmacy.  The estimated completion date is August
1998.

     At the James Cancer Hospital, nursing stations will be
renovated and corridors on patient floors seven, eight, nine and
10 will be updated.  The hospital is funding the $2.8 million
project, which is expected to be completed by December 1999.

     This portion of the project at the Schottenstein Center, the
university's new arena for basketball and other events, will
provide seating for approximately 19,500.  Gifts to the
Department of Athletics of $3.4 million will allow for the
purchase and installation of seats.  The completion date is
September 1998.

     Contracts for 34 projects, each of less than $1 million,
also were approved by trustees.  The projects and costs are:

     Remodeling space in the Animal Science Building and Plumb
Hall for the Poultry Science Department ($726,000); upgrading
animal isolation space at the Veterinary Hospital ($503,000);
upgrading facilities at Fry Hall and making disability-compliance
improvements at Starling-Loving Hall ($386,000); upgrading
elevators at Lincoln Tower and making them compliant with the
Americans with Disabilities Act ($478,000);

     Replacing window frames in the Main Library ($157,000);
replacing the roof at Denney Hall ($165,000); replacing the roof
at Campbell Hall ($318,000); replacing windows and doors at
Campbell Hall ($304,000); providing accessibility to a lecture
hall in Goss Lab ($36,000); renovating rooms at Fontana Lab to
house a campuswide electron optics facility ($661,000); replacing
a boiler at Founders Hall on the Newark campus ($85,000);

     Improving masonry at 1314 Kinnear Road ($112,000);
resurfacing and repairing Gosard Drive and other roads on the
campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center
in Wooster ($210,000); replacing windows at Postle Hall
($250,000);

     Renovating the interiors of the three Jesse Owens Recreation
Centers with new heating, lighting, restrooms, floors and paint
($434,000); upgrading utilities at the Mansfield campus
($657,000); improving masonry at the Main Library ($209,000);
replacing the roof of a greenhouse at the Agricultural Technical
Institute in Wooster ($16,000); replacing roofs on four buildings
at OARDC in Wooster ($167,000);

     Replacing roads, sidewalks and lighting at the Marion campus
($322,000); improving heating and air conditioning at the Main
Library ($467,000); replacing sidewalks and a pedestrian bridge
at the Drake Union ($521,000); replacing lighting campuswide
($501,000); renovating restrooms and improving plumbing at
Ramseyer Hall ($221,000);

     Adding a new playground at the Child Care Center ($250,000);
providing lighting at the Davis Baseball Stadium ($410,000);
extending a runway at the University Airport ($220,000);
renovating rooms in Thorne and Gourley halls at OARDC in Wooster
($823,000); constructing a courtyard for patients and visitors at
the University Hospital and James Cancer Hospital ($300,000);

     Replacing the roof at Ramseyer Hall ($466,000); creating an
ambulatory surgery unit at the James Cancer Hospital ($287,000);
replacing a smoke stack at Robinson Hall ($182,000); renovating
elevators at Baker Hall ($581,000); and upgrading elevators in
the Biological Sciences Building ($512,000).

     Trustees also authorized the university to hire design firms
and seek bids for three projects.

     A gateway entry into the Medical Center at Cannon Drive and
Ninth Avenue and a new front entrance to Rhodes Hall will be
constructed at an estimated cost of $1.6 million, to be paid by
University Hospitals.

     Blankenship Hall at Woody Hayes Drive and Kenny Road will be
renovated to house the Department of Public Safety.  The cost is
estimated at $1.9 million and will be funded by the University
Treasurer's debt service pool.

     A renovation of the third and fourth floors of Starling-
Loving Hall will provide office space for the College of Medicine
and Public Health.  The estimated $1.9 million cost will be paid
by the James Cancer Hospital.

     Trustees also accepted five small capital improvement
projects, each estimated at less than $1 million, anticipated for
1998 and subject to scheduling and availability of funding.  They
are:

     Renovating heating and air conditioning and a gas turbine
control room in a laboratory at the College of Engineering
($558,000); adding a treadmill at the Galbreath Equine Center
($461,000); replacing equipment at the Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Facility of University Hospitals ($304,000); renovating a gift
shop at Rhodes Hall ($270,000); and renovating the Ash House
facility for Housing, Food Services and Events Centers
($237,000).

Miscellaneous business

     In other business, trustees:

     -- Heard a routine quarterly budget report by William J.
Shkurti, vice president for finance.  Shkurti mentioned that the
debate in the state Legislature about primary and secondary
school funding could have serious impact on future funding for
the university.  He also said that summer and fall enrollments
were slightly above projections, so fee income may be adjusted
upward during the second quarter.

     -- Heard another report by Shkurti that compared budgeted
earnings and expenditures with actual dollars.  Shkurti said
that, for the 1997 fiscal year, revenues were 3 percent higher
than budgeted and expenditures were 1 percent less.

     -- Received an annual report by Shkurti about internal debts
owed by individual units to the university as a result of
deficits.  He told trustees that the units continue to make
progress on eliminating old debts, reducing them from $45.3
million in fiscal year 1993 to $7.2 million in fiscal 1996.

     -- Learned from Shkurti that the direct administrative cost
of supporting development activities in fiscal year 1997 was 7.2
cents per dollar, excluding space, and the cost of endowment
administration was 0.4 cents per dollar.  Supplemental
expenditures in support of the Affirm Thy Friendship campaign
have been $5.4 million since its inception, well within its
budget.

     -- Authorized the sale of $80 million in variable rate
general receipt bonds, most of which will pay for the
Schottenstein Center.

     -- Revised the university's policy for the management of its
non-endowment investment portfolio to help provide the highest
possible income with the most prudent level of risk.

     -- Provided a $2.25 million line of credit for MedOhio
Health Inc. to support an application with the Ohio Department of
Insurance to establish it as a health insuring corporation.

     -- Transferred $38.5 million between current and non-current
accounts, the bulk of which, $28 million, was of hospital funds
to the capital reserve.

                             #

Contacts: Jill Morelli, university architect, 614-292-4458.
          William J. Shkurti, vice president for finance,
          614-292-9232.

Written by Dave Bhaerman, University Communication, 614-292-8422.


[Submitted by: Von Vargas  (vargas.12@osu.edu)
               
Fri, 5 Dec 1997 15:31:20 -0500 (EST)]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.