By Ryanne Higley
At the BYUSA kick-off meeting for South Campus Areas Master Plan Thursday, Aug. 31, student attendance was conspicuously low.
John Bennion, BYUSA SAC vice president, said he would like to help inform the students more on SCAMP.
Bennion said BYUSA will solicit meetings on a smaller scale. These meetings will most likely be focus groups that will provide valuable feedback. He said surveys will be taken and mass e-mails will be sent to inform students on further SCAMP developments.
Bennion said a SCAMP Web site will be available for students to notify them about upcoming meetings.
“We have no real stand on SCAMP except to help organize the people involved and provide better student participation,” Bennion said.
Brent Turley, a BYU-student representative on the SCAMP committee, said the project is a concept plan, and it’s important for the students to be involved.
SCAMP proposes redevelopment of the area between 900 East to University Avenue and 800 North to 500 North. This area would become a student-friendly “village” in Provo.
Kevin Callahan, assistant director of community development, said SCAMP would provide housing for an additional 5,000 students, four students per an apartment, allowing for 1,250 additional housing units in the area.
“I thought the meeting was a great start,” Callahan said. “People had some good questions.”
Ideally, more housing will create more competition among developers, which will keep costs down, he said.
Reducing parking and increasing housing will also keep housing costs low, he said. Less parking will lower the development cost of new housing.
“Parking is the key,” Callahan said.
Callahan said the city wants to reduce auto use, not eliminate it. To do this available parking in the area will be reduced by half. This means an apartment of four will have two parking spots and six residents will have three.
Norman Faldmo, director of Planning Commission at BYU, said SCAMP is a good idea, but further examination is needed.
Faldmo said there is great potential for the use of 800 North. BYU owns the land in the area and is commencing studies for the potential use of the road.
Further explanation will not be announced until studies pass through campus planning first, Faldmo said.
Anna N. Baker, a BYU alumna and Provo resident, said SCAMP is a bad idea because it will only displace students and create a monopoly for neighboring businesses.
“I don’t think students will live there,” Baker said. “It will turn into a student ghetto with all the compressed housing.”
Baker is also concerned for her grandparents who have lived on 700 North for 50 years.
John Biery, from California majoring in construction management, said SCAMP will end up being exactly the way south campus is now because of Provo’s zoning.
Biery said there may be a few new developments, but SCAMP will not become as full-blown as the SCAMP Committee plans.
