Trustees Wrestle With WCC Parking Space Plans

"Maybe we should give admission priority to students willing to come by bicycle." This light comment closed the lcngthy but inconclusive "thinking aloud" session which Washtenaw Community College trustees held with the architects of the new college campus last night. The main issue was how much a;id which parts of the 235-acre w o d e d campus should be turned into parking lots for the college which is a commuter iiistitution. The only conclusión reached was that the trustees want to talk to the architects again and view sketches of all posibilities for parking and for conservation of trees. A luncheon meeting was set for next Wednesday. The architects, Charles MacMahon and Jay Chamberlain of the firm of Tarapata-MacMahon, presented drawings of a campus plan with buildings surrounded on all sides with parking lots. An area for recreation was left undeveloped on the drawings. Much of the site, the former Huron Valley Farms in the southeast corner of Ann Arbor Township, is an apple orchard. The southeast section of erty bordering on Clark Rd. has large pine trees. Saving as many of these trees as possible and using them to screen parking areas as well as to provide scenic vistas was the goal of both architects and trustees. However, the trustees questioned whether fewer parking spaces would be adequate and whether lots could be moved to more distant areas of the campus. A decisión on a master plan, either the one proposed last night or another, must be made soon because the architects plan to let contracts for site preparation on July 13. They said they plan to have site drawings completed by June 13, to seek bids June 20, to open bids July 11, and award contracts two days later. The contracts would be for grading and clearing land for the first phase of the campus, the science building and parking lots to serve it, for installation of major storm sewer arteries, and basecoating a road around the campus perimeter. il The first phase will not affect! much of the orchard but the architects are reluctant to startl with any part of it without II ing the approval of the masterl plan. The plan proposed last night showed all parking lots being from 600 to 800 feet away from the buildings with buildings and lots encircled by the perimeter road. The five lots are planned for 4,600 cars. The architects planned tol make extensive use of trees for