All bikes collected through the abandoned bicycles project have been inventoried as of today, 218 bicycles were collected. This inventory will be shared with appropriate campus units, marking the completion of Phase 3 of the project. If you believe your bike may have been impounded reach out to bike@illinois.edu with detailed information about your bike, including where you left it.

On 7/28/25, members of the Bird Strike student group, advisors, and sustainability staff met to discuss the next steps for improving bird safety on campus. 

Invitees included: Sheri Glowinski, Sarthak Prasad, Benjamin Van Doren, Cheryl Bikcnell, Josh Whitson, Morgan White, Sarah Jacobson, Leilany Fuentez-Garcia, Wren Dulnev, Miriam Keep, Quinn Connolly, and Joy O'Keefe.

After the meeting, Quinn sent the following message to the members and advisors of the Bird Strike group:

Thank you all for meeting with us yesterday. The next steps are for the student group to select the building and scope of windows that should be included for a cost estimate.

Once your goals have been set and the scope of work is determined, please let Morgan and I know. We will let you know what funding is needed to get a construction cost estimate that you can include in the SSC funding request in the fall.

The proposed project for a solar array at the Speech and Hearing building was deemed canceled due to the design study which found the roof unable to hold the solar array, as well as an informal shade assessment which found that the panels would not get all day sun due to the existing buildings.

Please see below a conversation between Morgan White, Jen Frattergio, and Paul Foote regarding this project:

On January 26, 2024 Paul said:

----------------------------------------------

Hello Jen,

I hope you are having an enjoyable Friday!

I have a quick question, Marth, Aman and I did a quick assessment of the Speech and Hearing bldg. for rooftop solar array and found it to be a poor source for solar insolation due to the Psychology bldg.. shadowing over it for the morning hours and

then there are some trees that block summer sun to the north and west as well.

We are tasked with submitting an IL Green Fund (SSC) application for this project and I am wondering if there is a reason this location was chosen and/or can we select another location that may produce higher outputs from the sola array?

Here is the charge language: Develop and submit an application to IL Green Fund (SSC) for rooftop Solar on Speech and Hearing Sciences Building in collaboration with stakeholders.

----------------------------------------------------

Jen forwarded the inquiry to Morgan White and Stacey DeLorenzo:

--------------------------------------

Hi Morgan and Stacey,

See below for a question from Paul and the Energy Team.

Morgan, you had suggested the team apply for funding from the IL Green Fund (SSC) for rooftop solar on the Speech and Hearing Sciences Building. What was the reasoning behind this recommendation? Is a tool used or an analysis done to identify suitable buildings for installations?

-----------------------------------

Morgan replied:

Hi Jen,

Just to close the loop on this old question from 1.5 years ago…  There was an analysis of large roofs that could potentially be retrofitted with solar.  Many of the large roofs are made with gypsum board which is not strong enough for panels, and the remainder would require a structural analysis.  Someone said the Speech and Hearing Sciences Building was retrofitted with a different lower-weight type of insulation which should make it viable to handle the weight of solar panels.  We did an in-house assessment with F&S Design Services, and it was found that the roof could hold the weight of the panels.  Then the Student Sustainability Committee funded a full design, which was completed and is on the iCAP Portal / in F&S records.  The iCAP Energy Team pointed out that the new high-rises around the facility block a lot of the sunlight, so the project was essentially cancelled.  I think it would still be helpful to do a shade study for the building, and potentially it could have a green roof on it.  It is very visible from the Hub (one of the highrises nearby), so it could be a visible sign of our climate action.

July 2025 photos of the Florida Orchard Prairie have been added to the box folder.

Work Order (11267754) was created for Bike to Work Day tasks, these taks include the placement of tables, chairs, waste receptacles, and hand sanizter at the welcome stations. 

This morning, Sarthak, Emily, Ricardo, and Max began Phase 3 of the abandoned bicycles project: inventorying the impounded bicycles. Completion of this process is anticipated by 7/30.

A survey of the bike repair stations on campus was completed on 7/17/2025. The survey found that several stations had faulty pumps and missing tools, problems which F&S will seek to fix. A PDF of the survey is attached to this project update.

Following are Sarthak Prasad's notes from the introductory meeting on 7/16/2025.

Attended By: Eliana Brown, Layne Knoche, Andrea Wagner, Madelyn Craft, Ashley Belle, Justin Vozzo, Sarthak Prasad, Stirling Lemme

• Introductions happened
• Lumpkin Family Foundation
  
  • Greater C-U project
• Demo area on campus showing benefit of having native plants under established trees especially around ROW
  
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Some additional support of mature trees
• On the ground implementation
• Community Outreach
• Tree Management stepping stone
  
  • Making changes around the south quad area
  • Developing areas - underplanting similar to RORG
  • There is evidence in improving tree health with these plantings
• Even as a small area as a demo area

• What support are you they expecting?
  
  • Similar to RORG
    
    • Ryan and his crew for mulch
    • Support for coordination with the specific trees
    • Coordinating work orders
    • Additioanl treatments to the trees if necessary
    • To establish it - we would need of Ryan's group to kill the grass (herbicide application - maybe 2)
    • Application in August and September (1 month apart)
    • Areas that are not sidewalk bound - F&S uses a edge trencher
  • Check with county master gardener - arborists,
  • Low maintenance plantings
    
    • So that it is easy for implementation
• Providing materials to the people in the community

 Location

 Stay away from the main stretch on the quad

• What is the scale?
  
  • One tree - 200 sq ft garden?
  • South Quad?
• The foundation may be supportive of a larger scale project if there is sufficient/appropriate maintenance support available
  
  • We don’t want a difficult maintenance
  • Smaller spaces preferred
• Kirby Ave - South side strip between First and Oak
  
  • Very high visibility
  • Very high traffic
  • Salt
  • So there may be a chance that this area might fail -
  • Outside of scope - too big of an area
• Different native species around different trees in the same area-
  
  • Several small pockets of areas

• Architecture Building area - opposite to the Main Library - Preferred (First preference)
  
  • Gregory Dr
  • We want to have people from the community to be able to see and access this area - this area is a bit restrictive
• Trees around Krannert Center (Second preference)
  
  • Really great for Community
• West side of Armory
  
  • Construction upcoming - so don’t use this area 

Timeline

• Letter of intent due at the end of this month
• Letter of support
  
  • No need for the location
• Grants start -
  
  • October would be the start planning
    
    • For a year
    • Opportunity for multiple years - if you do a good job
  • We need the location for the application

• Application deadline  - September 5

• When do we plant?
  
  • Planning over the winter -
  • Spring 2026 (May) or Fall 2026 (September) planting
• When do we get the ARC approval?
  
  • August meeting

Funding

• Average grant allocation - $25k and max is $50k.
  
  • Would campus kick in some money?
    
    • SSC money

Maintenance

• MOU

To-do

• Letter of Support - due at the application process

Today, members of the planning team attended the second meeting for Bike Month 2025. The team discussed branding, sponsorships, and location details for Light the Night. Attached is a pdf with agenda items.