Amphitheater to be spared from demolition

By Bradley Hart
The Collegian

Fresno State’s Amphitheater will be spared from demolition thanks in part to a new campus
master plan, a university facility management official has confirmed.

About a year ago the structure, which sits adjacent to the Speech Arts building, was marked to be torn down and replaced with a new University High School campus.

Now those plans have been changed and the demolition cancelled because it appears that any future University High campus will not be built on the site, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Bob Boyd said, leading the university to cancel the destruction which was originally
scheduled for last year.

“We felt confident that it [the new UHS campus] will not be in the Amphitheater,” Boyd said.

Boyd said the proposed site of the campus was changed around the end of the last fiscal year, at least partially due to changes to the university’s master plan for future growth.

“There were some good reasons why we sited it there but it became pretty clear that that wasn’t going to be an appropriate site,” Boyd said.

Associated Students President Juan Pablo Moncayo said he’s pleased with the decision to build the UHS campus on another part of the campus and spare the Amphitheater.

“It shows what student opinion can really do,” Moncayo said.

Earlier this year the AS Senate passed two resolutions regarding the university’s plans for the area.

The first resolution asserted the opinion of the Senate that the space should be used for a project that would benefit all Fresno State students rather than just University High pupils.

The second stated that AS generally supports the presence of UHS on the Fresno State campus and called for greater efforts to integrate its students into the Fresno State community.

Following those resolutions, AS officers were instrumental in gathering more than 1,000 signatures for a petition asking the university to reconsider its plans for the AmphitheCollegianater.

Boyd said while student input was one reason for moving the proposed site of the University High facilities, there were other concerns as well.

“I think student input is valued but I think the location was the most significant,” Boyd said. He went on to state that while the UHS campus must be located within a reasonable distance of Fresno State facilities it made more sense to locate in on the outer edges of the existing campus rather than in the interior where the Amphitheater currently sits.

There are currently several possible locations being considered for the UHS facilities, Boyd said, but as of now they are only tentatively being examined at this time. As a result, he said he is not able to reveal the exact areas under consideration.

Previous plans for the UHS facilities included 24 classrooms, a laboratory, three music rehearsal rooms and an eating area for students. It was not clear whether those plans would be modified for a new site or whether they would remain the same.

The new campus master plan under which the University High campus will be built is presently in the draft stages after being considered by numerous university committees, including some that include students.

“We’ve had tremendous discussions to date, literally hundreds of people around campus have discussed it,” Boyd said.

Boyd said the eventual plan would lay out the university’s growth for the next decade and likely include not only plans for new buildings but also critical infrastructure improvements such as water and electricity services.

An expansion of open green space and parking facilities are also in the works, he said. One specific campus improvement being considered is the construction of a parking structure, according to Moncayo.

“The administrators know that parking is one of the major problems on campus,” he said. “So they’re willing to tackle it head-on.”

Moncayo estimated that any parking structure slated to be built on campus would take around a year and a half to approve at the state level even after receiving the full blessing of the Fresno State administration.

Since the parking facilities have not yet been approved at even the local level, Moncayo said it’s likely that the start of any construction would be at least three years away.

In the meantime, he said, AS will be seeking student input on the current campus parking
situation through student surveys and focus groups that will be held toward the end of the current semester.

Another possible change mentioned in the plan is the construction of a formal entrance on Shaw Avenue.

Boyd said campus planners, including outside architects and consultants, are currently examining possible locations for such a feature, which he hopes would create a single official entrance to the campus.

A public version of the master plan is expected to be released early next year, according to Boyd, at which time a series of discussions will be held about its contents.

“There will be a dissemination throughout the entire community and the campus community,” Boyd said.

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