Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1960 [PAGE 292]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1959]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

289

"As t h e result of a series of population, transportation, economic and location studies and program studies, t h e following criteria briefly stated have been used to measure the potential of various sites: 1. Accessibility: A site must be accessible by public transportation, with a (This criterion was maximum travel time of one hour and a maximum fare (at determined after present fare levels) of 57 J4 cents for a one-way trip, from comparative studies t h e homes of a t least 50 per cent of t h e potential students of places of resiresiding in Cook and Du Page Counties. dence of students enrolled at UrbanaA site must be accessible from t h e homes of at least 85 Champaign and at per cent of the potential students, residing in Cook and Navy Pier as well Du Page Counties, either by public transportation as stated as students enrolled above, or by private automobile with a maximum driving in other colleges in time of forty-five minutes. the Chicago area. These studies were supplemented with data on transportation habits and preferences of students at Navy Pier obtained directly from them.) 2. Availability: The site must be available on a schedule which permits beginning of construction by July, i960, and the complete operation of the first stage (6,000 students) by the fall of 1963; and t h e balance of the site must be available by 1965 for construction of those buildings needed for the final stage. 3. Expansibility: Sites with areas above minimum requirements, or with feasible possibilities of expansion, are to be preferred over sites lacking these qualities. 4. Cost: Sites with low costs are to be preferred to sites with high costs. Such costs include: a. Acquisition cost of the land. b . Development cost of the site. c. The possibility of building low-rise structures as opposed to higher cost, high-rise buildings. 5. Environment: Sites adjacent to environmental factors which would assist the educational mission of t h e campus are t o be preferred over sites with neutral or unfavorable environmental surroundings. Environmental factors to be evaluated for specific sites include: a. General environment, particularly as to land use, physical condition, identification, prestige, and safety. b. Adjacency to cultural or other facilities which could be used by the University. c. Proximity to areas of superior opportunities for desirable faculty housing, and of potential employment for students.'' T h e application of these criteria to all sites studied resulted in the Real Estate Research Corporation's finding in its report of October 20 that there are four outstanding locations which meet the requirements of accessibility to the student population to be served (here again we quote from the Corporation's report): "a. T h e first, Northerly Island, is located on the lake front. It was built in the 1920's as Island No. 1 in a proposed series of five islands, and subsequently renamed Northerly Island. Except for a brief period during the Century of Progress Exposition, it had no substantial use until the end of W o r l d W a r II, at which time it was offered to the United Nations as a site for their headquarters. T h e United Nations subsequently chose the East River location in New York. In 1949 a portion of Northerly Island was improved with a landing strip, and this section of the island has been operated as Meigs Field ever since.