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Project Updates

  1. Walkability audit: Spring 2022, Meeting 8,9

    Associated Project(s): 

    On April 14 and 21, 2022, Sarthak and Sutapa met to discuss the progress of the Walkability audit.

    Tasks decided:

    1. Data analysis will begin on 22nd April for the rest of the data points collected during Phase 2 of the audit.

    2. Campus high priority zones will be weighted higher than low priority zones. This will impact the overall walkability Index of the campus.

    3. Deficiency categories with highest number of recorded points identified are: Sidewalk Maintenance, Crosswalk Maintenance and Accessibility. Create a list of recommendations to improve them.

    4. Presentation of overall results to Transportation department by Sutapa on May 3rd, 2022, Capstone Poster presentation on May 5th 2022.

     

     

  2. Trash Clean up

    From: Alice Berkson

    To: John Marlin; James Ellis; White, Morgan

    Recipients: jcmarlin@sbcglobal.net; james.ellis72@gmail.com; mbwhite at illinois.edu 

     

    Hello -- Now that the Florida/Orchard Prairie Zone has had a spring haircut, would traversing the area to pick up trash be a

     

    good idea

    irrelevant

    harmful to plants

     

    Just let me know, I can get to it possibly before the weekend, definitely early next week.

     

    Also at least one of the Prairie Zone signs (on a single metal pole) are listing to one side. I straightened out the one adjoining the driveway so I think they are not set in concrete? Should I drop a few stones next to it in an effort to keep it straight? -- Alice


    --

    Alice Berkson
    904 Mayfair Rd.     
    Champaign, IL  61821-4437
    voice 217.356.4829
    SpectroClick, Inc:
    www.SpectroClick.com 
    https://www.facebook.com/spectroclick/    
    Public Service Archaeology & Architecture Program, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    https://psaap.anthro.illinois.edu/
    Illinois Assn. for Advancement of Archaeology:
    www.museum.state.il.us/iaaa
    East Central IL Master Naturalist Program:
    http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/champaign/mn/index.html

  3. F&S Insider article about Campus Landscape Master Plan

    Associated Project(s): 

    F&S Insider included an article about Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP) on April 20, 2022. We are organizing a Public Forum for CLMP on April 27, 2022 from 5:30 - 7 p.m.

    Read the article here: https://fs.web.illinois.edu/Insider/2022/04/08/planning-the-illinois-landscape/

    Please register for the CLMP Public Forum: go.illinois.edu/CLMPPublicForum

  4. Illinois Green Infrastructure Inventory Update 5/9/2022

    Stacy Gloss attended the Urban Stormwater Working Group meeting on 4/19/22 led by Lisa Merrifield.

    Agenda item 1) An Illinois Green Infrastructure Inventory Update was provided.

    Key points:

    • Tracking Best Management Practices:  need to know: where, what, how much, and when
    • Detailed information allows for comparison between practices
    • Practices include projects like:  vegetated filter strips, grass swale, infiltration devices, permeable pavement, porous pavement, wetland detention, dry detention, settling basin, bio-swale, grass swale, wet pond, constructed wetland, green roof, weekly street sweeping, native landscaping, stormwater tree, sand filters, settling basin, WQ inlets, wet ponds, infiltration devices, concrete grid  pavement, sand filter/infiltration basin, oil/grit separator etc. Also new construction and retrofit.
    • Next steps: testing data-sets with NCSA

    Agenda item 2) meeting participants described their work and current projects.

    Update: May 9, 2022

    Stacy Gloss and Eliana Brown will attend the September MS4 meeting to describe projects related to capturing green infrastructure project locations and project information to share best practices with the local community. Campus maintains data about about green infrastructure projects on campus. A pilot project is underway to share green infrastructure project data with communities across Illinois.  Eliana Brown is involved in this effort and NCSA is developing a database platform for information sharing.

    Stacy Gloss will attend the next MS4 meeting in June also.

  5. Campus Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) spring 2022

    Please see attached the final presentation for the CTAC spring 2022. We also talked about abandoned bicycles and Campus Landscape Master Plan during this meeting. Also watch the meeting recording and read the chat from during the meeting: https://uofi.box.com/s/lv1xbqlcevdp6f2dfmiep2fpx3cq2zde

  6. Illinois ECE Celebrates Earth Week

    Associated Project(s): 

    "Earth Week is a great opportunity for us to reflect on what the extended ECE family has done and can continue to do to make Earth a better place for all living beings." - Illinois ECE

    Illinois ECE has gathered a sampling of the contributions their faculty, staff, and students have made to environmental sustainability.

    The sampling can be seen here: https://ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/earth-week

     

  7. Two 100% all electric 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning trucks purchased for F&S fleet

    From: Varney, Peter W
    Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2022 12:38 PM
    To: FandS Executive Management Team ; Gordon, Malikah Asrayyah ; Breitwieser, Steven
    Cc: Patterson, Shawn L ; Franzen, Neil
    Subject: Ford Lightnings for F&S

    As mentioned this morning, I have been able to secure two of the brand new 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning for F&S. These are all-electric crew cab pickup trucks with a ~200 mile range. The vehicles are equipped with a 9.6kW power system including multiple 120V and a single 240V outlet. Cargo payload is only about 1,600# or 2/3 of a standard F-150.

    These vehicles should allow for my team to gain familiarity with all-electric vehicles in our fleet as well as campus visibility regarding F&S’ commitment to sustainable fleet technology. I believe one of the vehicles would be a good fit in my Transportation Shop but I’m open to suggestions for the second truck. ETA will be in the June/July timeframe.

    Malikah – I want your team to be aware for any story/messaging opportunities. I also think we can use some special signage or wrap on the vehicle exterior.

    Pete W Varney
    DIRECTOR
    Transportation & Building Services
    Facilities & Services
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  8. Weekly Update: Bicycle Donations; Collaborations

    Associated Project(s): 

    All, Had some intense weather mid-week that kept folks away from visiting us. A new student staffer started this week and hit the ground running. We got two quality bikes donated last week that are in-progress and one very nice near-new bike that is already on the sales floor.

    TBP prices bumped up slightly last week to no Ill effect here at CBC. In fact, the first mention of the higher prices was met with “A used tire for $8? That’s a great deal!”

    On Thursday, I consulted with a student from University of Connecticut about starting a bicycle cooperative space at his school. He’d heard good things about our operations from a former TBP member. Small world, too, since I grew up 20 minutes from UConn.

    This week is the Campus Transportation Advisory Committee meeting and the last week for one of my student staffers.

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 26
    Sales: $912.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $180
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
    Tires/tubes: 2 for $21

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  9. Wand TV article about CLMP Public Forum

    Associated Project(s): 

    Wand TV published an article about the CLMP Public Forum on April 18, 2022, titled "Public invited to give input on U of I landscaping master plan" - https://www.wandtv.com/news/public-invited-to-give-input-on-u-of-i-lands...

    Attached are the article in .pdf format as well as the Press Release.

  10. Res003 Collecting Info about Environmental Justice Needs - Submitted

    The Resilience iCAP Team submitted the following recommendation to the iCAP Working Group on 4/7/22:

    "iSEE should assign a staff person to meet with local governmental and community leaders to discuss how the University can plan to assist communities to address environmental justice challenges."

    The Res003 Collecting Info About Environmental Justice Needs recommendation is attached. 

  11. ZW008 Adopt a Highway/Drain - Submitted

    The Zero Waste iCAP Team submitted the following recommendation to the iCAP Working Group on 4/8/22:

    "The Zero Waste team recommends a two-pronged approach to incentivizing an Adopt a Highway/Drain program:

    • Adopt-a-Highway (Champaign) incentive program recommended to engage faculty, staff and administration at the Department or College entity level
    • Adopt-a-Drain (Champaign) & Urbana Street incentives programs recommended to engage students involved such as RSOs, Greek houses, dorms and Living Learning Communities."

    The ZW008 Adopt a Highway/Drain recommendation is attached. 

  12. ZW007 Composting Strategies - Submitted

    The Zero Waste iCAP Team submitted the following recommendation to the iWG on April 8, 2022: 

    "The team recommends that a committee of campus and community stakeholders be created to share knowledge related to composting on campus and work together to further expand composting at a large scale. The committee will convene approximately once each month, and will consist of faculty members doing research tangential to food waste, student organizations interested in the cause, community groups activating composting, etc. (list of potential members amended to this recommendation)."

    The full recommendation and list of suggested committee members is attached. 

  13. Trans014 Electric Vehicle Task Force Membership - Successful

    Dr. Ehab Kamarah, Executive Director of F&S, responded to Dr. Jennifer Fraterrigo, iSEE Associate Director of Campus Sustainability, with the following email:

    "This is to confirm that F&S team will form the EV Task Force with input from the Parking Advisory Committee."

    =======================

    See submittal and Trans014 recommendation here.
    See transmittal and iWG assessment of Trans014 Electric Vehicle Task Force Membership here. 

    For future updates, see the Electric Vehicle (EV) Task Force project page. 

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