Construction Under Way at Last

The new communities, which will house about 900 students, are scheduled for completion in June 2002 as part of the University's Master Plan for managing long-term campus growth.

Rebecca Casey, assistant director of University housing, said unexpected snow and rain late last year, combined with other more routine obstacles, set the project back a couple months. Construction crews are now working on the weekends to make up for the delays.

Casey said the foundation work for the Ehringhaus, Morrison and Craige communities is almost complete. During February, the structural steel could start being set for these halls.

Reactions to the construction are mixed from students in the neighboring residence halls.

In Morrison Residence Hall, many residents said students living on opposite sides of the building experience drastically different levels of inconvenience.

When asked if the noise bothers her, freshman Lara Whittaker said, "No, it's not on my side of the building." She supported the idea behind the construction, saying that South Campus definitely needs improved residence halls.

But sophomore Brett Emmerton holds a different view. "It bothers me because it wakes me up at 8 a.m. on Saturdays to the sound of jackhammers," he said.

Emmerton said he does not believe the new communities will benefit a large enough number of students to be worth the costs.

Some Hinton James residents also have said the construction has been an inconvenience.

Construction on the Hinton James community lags slightly behind the other three, Casey said. An electrical duct bank that runs underneath the sidewalk along Manning Drive had to be completed before the workers could start the foundation work.

Casey explained that the work on the bank caused the closing of the sidewalk from the intersection of Manning Drive and Skipper Bowles Drive to the end of the construction site. A fence was then erected along Manning Drive from the construction site to the Hinton James parking lot.

The fence was installed to prevent Hinton James residents from jaywalking across Manning Drive on the way to campus, which incited objections and the repeated destruction of the fence. But now that the electrical duct bank is complete, the sidewalk has been reopened and the fence has been taken down.

Some Hinton James residents said they are not as upset about the construction now that the fence has been taken down. "Now that we can walk on our normal path, it's not much of a pain anymore," said sophomore Nathan Talbert.

Freshman Jessica Barbour is less satisfied. She said the new communities will not be worth the construction because it is too aggravating for current Hinton James residents. "There's just a big fenced-in area of our pretty green lawn that nothing is happening in," she said.

"I was very happy to see them burning construction stuff on Franklin Street."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.