Pre-Notes from your MesaZona blogger: ASU appears to be hell-bent on expansions using the same strategies to acquire real estate or lands for new campuses with 2,500 students like the one here in Mesa getting all the media-hype, with both Mayor John Giles and City Manager Chris Brady doing a slick-and-quick attempt to present sketchy proposals to the Mesa City Council in the past two weeks to gain approval for spending a whopping $180 Million big buck$ - saddling taxpayers with 50% more debt for questionable benefits [to whom?]
Proceed with caution ... report on same plan in Payson, with underlines and bold formatting for emphasis.
One reason for locating institutions for higher education along the path of Valley Metro Light Rail public transit is to discourage the use of private cars. Yet one of the first questions raised is What about parking spaces?? People who work in City Hall are concerned about losing parking privileges right next door! The budget presented includes $4 Million for more parking!
Your MesaZona blogger's first reaction to the mayor's proposal, first brought up in public in January in John Giles' State-of-The-City speech [preceded by an announcement he was running for re-election] was that the city was hoping to capitalize on the boom in student housing construction that's overtaken Tempe - that's not even included in what has been presented to the Mesa City Council, but is included in the 2500-student ASU expansion planned for Payson.
Perhaps the image to the right, from the Arizona Republic's coverage of SOTC16 hints at some of the underhand-ed signals the mayor is inadvertently giving . . . and then, again, the Devil's always in the details that have not been worked out yet with a June 10 deadline approaching fast.
Report To The Regents
In addition, at that same meeting in June, ASU will reportedly present to the Board of Regents its proposed partnership with the City of Mesa, which has also been under discussion for some years to build a branch campus there.
In Phase 1 of the Payson project, the Alliance will build three buildings comprising the facility — an academic building to hold classes and two dorms.
One woman expressed surprise at the new enrollment targets. “All of this for 350 students,” she said.
http://www.paysonroundup.com/
ASU said official ‘partner’ for scaled down Payson branch campus plan
"Arizona State University has agreed to open a branch in Payson, . . However, the initial plan has apparently been scaled down to address concerns raised by ASU, . . plans call for students to start class in September 2018, with students living on campus in dorms.
ASU is continuing to work on an intergovernmental agreement and master lease . . . “There were a lot of frustrated people because they kept on asking ASU, which we had a Memorandum of Understanding with for many years, if there has been any negotiations about a Payson campus and a lot of people said ‘No’ and it was because they couldn’t say anything and they still can’t . . ."
While local project planners initially dreamed the academic facility would open with 1,000 students and grow to 6,000, those numbers have been scaled back.
Although Phase 1 of the academic buildings will be built to handle up to 1,000 students, the high construction and infrastructure cost in an unproven housing market have limited initial student housing construction to 300 units.
ASU plans to open with 300-350 students and grow the campus an additional 200 to 300 students every year until reaching an enrollment of 2,500 students.
As a point of reference, during fiscal year 2016, 1,335 students attended the Payson campus of Gila Community College. For the spring 2016 term, 512 were full-time students.
The proposed enrollment numbers for the university project are far lower than what Mayor Kenny Evans has touted the campus would bring in.In addition, at that same meeting in June, ASU will reportedly present to the Board of Regents its proposed partnership with the City of Mesa, which has also been under discussion for some years to build a branch campus there.
In Phase 1 of the Payson project, the Alliance will build three buildings comprising the facility — an academic building to hold classes and two dorms.
The academic building will hold up to 1,000 students for classes, but initial enrollment numbers will be around 300-350 based on limited student housing options.
#First-year students will be required to live on campus in one of two dorms.
Phase 1 will likely cost more than $70 million.
#In future years, the Alliance will add other academic buildings and dorms in the same area.
#On the east side beyond a large ridge, the Alliance hopes to build a conference center/resort and residential housing. Cordell said they are envisioning condominiums accessed from a future second entrance off Rim Club Parkway.
[An audience member asked if the Foundation intends to sell the land or if the project will include commercial businesses. Cordell said the Foundation and Alliance would not sell the land, but rather lease it out. While it is zoned for educational use, that allows for commercial businesses in support of the education purpose. All of the money from leasing will be put back into the campus to keep the costs down for students.]One woman expressed surprise at the new enrollment targets. “All of this for 350 students,” she said.
http://www.paysonroundup.com/
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