Washington Quad Construction: 2007 Updates

November 30, 2007

Dear Residents of Prince George's Hall:

This is to advise you to be prepared for concrete work to begin to occur outside of your residence hall, starting as early as Wednesday, December 5 at 8 am. We will receive a more definitive schedule of the work early next week from the contractor and will advise you accordingly. As you know, the contractors are currently doing the concrete sidewalks outside of Harford and they will progress towards Prince George's next.

What does this mean for you? If you are a resident of the units that share the entrance facing the Quad, (2105, 2109, 3105, 3109) we will contact you by email and via your RA once the contractor has firmed up his schedule. On the days that the concrete in the doorway area is being demolished or new concrete is being poured there, we will need you to leave your residence hall between 8:00 and 8:30 am and not return until late afternoon. We need to be sure that you don't injure yourself as you open the door and step directly into the work being done by the contractor nor do we want the contractors getting hit by the door each time it opens. Our staff will be there on those mornings to make sure you exit in a timely fashion.

Prince George's Hall presents a unique challenge because it is the only hall that has an entrance door opening directly into the sidewalk area. All of the other halls have a landing or porch area that the contractors did not have to demolish as part of the process.

The concrete work is a multi-step process. First, the existing concrete must be demolished and removed and then forms will be built for curbs. This will require noisy machinery directly outside of windows that face the Quad. After this process, the concrete is poured for the curbs and then the sidewalk area. This will take several days and is dependent upon the weather. Rain or other inclement weather prevents the contractor from pouring concrete, etc. and may result in the schedule shifting a day or two. No work will be done during finals.

We know this is disruptive and appreciate your cooperation in advance! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at the South Campus Community Office, 0200 Calvert Hall or by calling 301-314-7484.

Sincerely,

Genevieve Conway
South Hill Community Director

Cindy Felice
Associate Director, Resident Life

November, 29, 2007

Dear South Hill Residents:

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and that you are now in the midst of preparing for the end of the Fall Semester. As many of you are aware, work has been progressing on our renovation of the Washington Quad. As of today, the contractor has completed the following:

Between now and the start of final exams the following work is scheduled to be completed:

We have confirmed with the contractor that no construction work will occur during final exams, beginning on December 12, 2007.

Over the Winter Break, the contractor will begin work on the "plaza" area between Baltimore and Calvert Halls, including a new staircase leading to South Campus Commons. A double set of stairs will replace the current single set of stairs. This work is scheduled to occur during January and February. During this time, you will not be able to walk down the staircase from South Hill toward South Campus Commons, Mowatt Lane Garage, Business School, etc.

While most of the Quad work is scheduled to be completed by the end of February, the planting of grass, shrubs, and trees will occur in March or April - because Spring is a much better time to install new plantings. Once the sod is installed, the grass will need time for the roots to grow into the top soil so a "snow fence" will limit your use of the grassy areas but you will be able to use the new the sidewalk areas.

We have appreciated your tolerance and patience this semester with the noise, dust, and a construction schedule that often shifted due to the weather. We hope you will continue to be patient as the work progresses. The weather will continue to impact the construction project and inclement weather may result in continued shifting of dates to accomplish each successive phase of the project. We will make every attempt to notify affected residents as we learn of schedule changes.

If you have any questions about the renovation project, please do not hesitate to contact either of us via the Resident Life South Campus Office at 301-314-7484. We would be happy to talk with you and answer your questions. Good luck on finals and have a great break!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Conway
South Hill Community Director

Cindy Felice
Associate Director, Resident Life

November 14, 2007

Dear Residents of Baltimore, Washington, Prince George's, Harford, Howard, and Frederick Halls:

Due to rain earlier this week and forecast for the remainder of the week, the contractor will be on site Saturday, November 17 to continue work forming and pouring concrete curbs and sidewalks. Work is scheduled to begin at 8:30am on Saturday and no work will occur on Sunday, November 18. Work that is not completed on Saturday will continue into next week.

This phase of the project includes completing the curbs and landings in front of Washington Hall and completing the sidewalks in front of Frederick and Washington Halls. The contractors also plan to begin setting forms and pouring concrete in front of Howard Hall in the near future. Should the contractors be able to begin work at Howard Hall on Saturday, Howard Hall residents are advised to use the "back door" entrances as you enter / leave the building between 8:30am and 4:00pm.

As always, this phase of the construction is very dependent on favorable weather conditions because rain and wet ground conditions prohibit the pouring of concrete.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the South Campus Community Office, 0200 Calvert Hall or 301-314-7484. Thank you for your patience and have a good Thanksgiving Break.

Sincerely,

Genevieve Conway
South Hill Community Director

November 12, 2007

Attention Frederick and Washington Hall Residents

On Saturday, November 10, you received an email regarding concrete pouring work scheduled for Monday, November 12 through Wednesday, November 14. Rain over the last 24 hours and more rain anticipated for this week has resulted in the contractor advising us that he expects this work may not be completed until Friday, November 16. Should the schedule continue to change due to weather or other circumstances, we will advise you. Thank you for your continued patience.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 301-314-7484 or visit the Resident Life South Campus Community Office in 0200 Calvert.

Sincerely,

Genevieve Conway
South Hill Community Director
Department of Resident Life
301-314-7484

November 10, 2007

Attention Frederick Hall Residents

We are pleased to report that the contractors were able to get the stairs and landings poured on Friday, despite the late afternoon rain!

On Monday, November 12 and Tuesday, November 13 they will be installing and completing the concrete pour of the curbing and sidewalks in front of Frederick. You DO NOT need to leave your residence hall early and the contractors will have a path for you to walk so that you can avoid the sidewalk while this work is in progress. Please keep in mind that this work is weather-dependent.

Again, thank you for your patience. We appreciate it.

November 10, 2007

Attention Washington Hall Residents

Beginning on Monday, November 12 through Wednesday, November 14 contractors will be completing concrete work outside of all the Washington Hall entrances facing the Quad. Work will begin as early as 8AM each day and should conclude between 3PM and 4PM.

During this time, we request that you use the stairwell door facing AWAY from the Quad to exit and enter the building For those residents in the two townhouse units, the contractors will maintain your ability to exit the townhouse each day.

The work that is being done includes the installation of curb forms, and pouring the concrete landing and steps outside all of the Washington Hall entrances. This process is noisy and dusty. While you do not have to vacate your residence hall while this work is being done, it will begin early each day.

While the contractor has scheduled three days to complete all of this work, their ability to complete it is dependent on weather conditions. The contractor cannot pour concrete in heavy rain and other work may be held up as well. Also, sometimes conditions occur on site that create unforeseen delays.

If we learn that the work will not be completed by Wednesday, we will advise you of this as soon as we are notified.

We appreciate your patience during this time. As a reminder, the Annapolis Multipurpose Room (equipped with a wireless access point) is available during the day for study.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 301-314-7484 or visit the Resident Life South Campus Community Office in 0200 Calvert.

Sincerely,

Genevieve Conway
South Hill Community Director
Department of Resident Life
301-314-7484

November 2, 2007

Dear South Hill Residents,

We are writing with an update regarding the progress on the Washington Quad. You may have noticed recently that the contractors had stopped working on the sidewalk demolition and installation of new concrete. After the concrete had been poured outside of Frederick and Washington Halls, it was realized that corrections would be needed at specific locations to assure proper drainage of rain and snow around our residence halls. The plans have been adjusted with new elevations and work will commence again very soon.

The first step in the next phase of construction will be the demolition and removal of the new concrete steps, landings, and curbs around Frederick and Washington Halls. When this phase begins, we again will need to ask Frederick Hall residents to make plans to leave your residence hall by 8:00AM on these days to enable the contractor to demolish the existing concrete, build forms, and pour concrete. Each entrance door area would be impacted for a 2-3 day time period and we expect this phase to begin within the next 10 days. We will notify affected Frederick Hall residents directly through posted flyers and email updates 24-48 hours in advance so you can plan accordingly.

Once the work by Frederick and Washington Halls is complete, the contractors will move to other areas around the quad. As soon as we know which buildings will be affected next, we will provide affected residents with specific updates.

We are aware that this work is disruptive and results in your having to be up earlier than you may have planned or not be able to be in your suite/apartment when you might otherwise stay in your room. We appreciate the patience you have demonstrated and continue to ask you to be patient as this work progresses. As a reminder, the Annapolis Hall Multi-Purpose room (equipped with a wireless access point) is still available to you for study purposes.

It has also come to our attention that some of you have experienced that construction work, at times, has begun earlier than 8:00AM. We have brought this issue to the contractor's attention. Please contact our Resident Life staff (301-314-7484) with specifics if you find this issue happening again.

While the original plan called for the project to be completed by late fall, we now know that work will need to continue into the spring semester. We will make the contractor aware of study day, final exams, and move out schedules. We now anticipate that project will be completed in mid to late spring.

We have scheduled a Community Meeting about the Washington Quad project for any of you who may like to attend to learn more about the work, the schedule, and to ask additional questions you might have. This meeting will occur on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 6:30PM in the Annapolis Hall Multipurpose Room.

Again, thank you for your cooperation and patience as we work to improve the South Hill Community.

Sincerely,

Genevieve Conway
South Hill Community Director

Cindy Felice
Associate Director of Resident Life