With the final design for the Lee Road Project one year away, according to university officials, opinions on how the project will affect South Campus and the surrounding areas are varied.
"We've got 3,000 students who have majors on South Campus and 23,000 on North Campus," said Dennis Black, vice president for Students Affairs. According to Black, the combination of housing with retail on North Campus will make available for students in Amherst what is already available on South Campus.
"Unless we create a Main Street in the middle of campus, students won't have full access to the housing, services and goods," said Black. "It's not fair, because South Campus already has a Main Street - It's called Main Street."
Students, too, said the Lee Road Project would be an improvement to UB's North Campus.
"It would be much more convenient. I could definitely see myself using it," said Katie Cotton, a freshman communication major. "If they put in grocery facilities and mall-like stores, kids will be less apt to need a car."
Though the Lee Road Project will bring balance to the campuses, according to Black, some business owners in the Buffalo area said the project would be an unnatural addition to North Campus.
"My feeling about this housing with retail in it is they're trying to make artificially what other communities have organically," said Jon Welch, co-founder of Talking Leaves Books, a bookstore near South Campus.
Jeremy Kornbluth, manager of Stimulance, a coffee shop on Main Street, said the results of the Lee Road Project would be detrimental to students' social lives.
"They make it easy to never leave your dorm room," he said. "North Campus wasn't made from the plans of a Japanese prison. I've heard that, but not talking about academics, I wish I had gone someplace else where there is more of a college experience. Here, they breed engineers that never want to go into the city."
Laura Lawton of the Gloria Parks Community Center near South Campus agreed and said that while the plans for a more convenient North Campus will benefit students, they should still get out into the community.
"The students (on North Campus) do need services that are readily accessible. It goes both ways; if they need a quart of milk 9 at night, that's important," she said. "Students also need to understand that they need to go to Main Street in University Heights to find the beat of the community."
Cotton said a new Lee Road would not affect how much students frequent the areas around South Campus.
"I enjoy Main Street and what Main Street has to offer," she said. "I think North Campus students see Main Street as more of a Friday night hang out."
According to members of the administration, worries about the negative effects the Lee Road Project might have on the areas around South Campus are unnecessary.
"On South Campus, we've done about $100 million in building in the past 10 years," said Black. "We're planning to spend $70 million in the next 10 years."
Jeffery Dutton, vice provost of Institutional Analysis, said the Lee Road Project would not take attention away from South Campus' needs.
"I'm spending $8.3 million this year and next year (on South Campus). In addition to that, half a million for the triads: McDonald, Schoellkopf and Pritchard Halls," he said.
Dutton also said the plans for improvements on North Campus are not expected have negative impacts on the amount of money spent in the areas around South Campus.
"I wouldn't think that most students who shop at South Campus would stop shopping there," he said. "You want convenience, it's across the street."
According to Black, the over-all impact of the Lee Road Project will be beneficial to the university.
"We can envision housing more than 2,000 students in apartment-style housing with services on the ground level, the kind that you would have across the street in a college town," he said.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
