Living in a college town has disadvantages, but also advantages. Disadvantages may include student renters who display a “honk to drink” sign to entice drivers along state roads to blare their horns all day on a weekend. Advantages include increased cultural and age diversity in the community, high-quality resources for solving problems that impact the community as a whole, cultural events, and access to some athletic facilities. This year’s construction projects at SUNY New Paltz have curtailed some of that access, in particular to the running track, which is one of the many areas being renovated.
According to Andrew Bruso, who serves as executive director of communication on campus, the gate was locked to prevent unsupervised access — due to safety reasons — while the north turf field is updated. The first phase of that project was resurfacing and restructuring. The second phase, adding new restrooms and a press box, should be completed next year. The field should now comply with NCAA standards for multiple sporting events.
Residents who enjoy campus access, but don’t have access to campus communications, may well be curious about the large number of projects that were started over the summer. Many of these are expected to be completed by winter. Most visible may be the work on Peregrine complex dorms. All five have been worked on in recent years. Awosting has had a fourth floor added, and the same is being done for Mohonk. Due to how state law is written, university officials are not subject to village zoning or the oversight of local building officials in any way; they comply with state laws and regulations directly. Mohonk will be reopened for the fall semester next year.
While this feels like an especially active time for construction zones on campus, Bruso noted that this is a normal state of affairs. “Construction is a constant at SUNY New Paltz, and we see that as a positive. As older projects wrap up, new projects are always getting underway to serve the campus community and its evolving needs. We know it can feel disruptive at times, but this work is important for preserving and sustaining the critical infrastructure of our campus for generations to come.”
Visitors should expect to find construction fencing and pedestrian detours on campus, which are installed for the safety of all concerned.
Bruso added, “We are a public university, and we strive to be good neighbors to the local community, making our facilities and grounds accessible when possible. However, the costs to maintain our infrastructure are borne by the campus and its tuition revenue. Separate from tuition, students pay an athletic fee that supports these campus amenities and activities. Our top priority is preserving and sustaining facilities that fulfill our primary goal of supporting the highest quality of academic and support services for our students.
“We’d also like to note that our administrative and academic projects are funded from capital money that is bonded through New York State and assigned to our campus by the governor’s office to serve the educational needs of our tuition-paying students. Residence hall projects are funded through bonds purchased via the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). The debt service on DASNY bonds does not come from taxpayer dollars or tuition, but from student housing fees.” Bruso was asked to provide the annual debt service for those bonds, and how that breaks down per student paying it. Due to the holiday weekend, he was unable to provide those figures by press time.
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