Water restrictions during Durham's prolonged drought have forced frustrated administrators and staff to postpone landscaping outside of the West-Edens Link.
City officials announced Wednesday that water is still critically low, adding that if the current rates of use continue, Durham's water supply will only last 93 days.
Roger Belanger, program coordinator at the office of the executive vice president, said he is disappointed with the delay in the WEL landscaping.
"I had envisioned going down there after student move-in and seeing students throwing frisbees and hanging out," Belanger said. He added that he and Judith White, assistant vice president and director of residential programming, have tried to include students' social needs in the landscaping design of the WEL.
Nearly two months into the semester, however, only orange mesh fences, weeds and dirt decorate the quad. "It's just awful," Belanger said.
Because of the drought, administrators had hoped to take advantage of the colder weather to implement the landscaping design, said Joseph Jackson, manager of grounds and sanitation in the Facilities Management Department.
"The colder, the better. When plants are in dormancy, which would be in late fall, early winter, that is a good time to move plants around because they require less watering... [than] when they're growing and the weather is warmer," Jackson said.
However, Belanger said current water restrictions could only support trees. "Basically, we have the option of going ahead with trees now," he said. "Then we have shrubbery and the third area which takes the most water is grass, turf and seed."
Although Belanger said he hopes to have landscaping completed by winter break, he added that plans all depend on whether Durham eases the water restrictions. "Duke is honoring the water restrictions imposed by the city, so we really can't be using that much water on the WEL site unless we stop using water somewhere else," he said.
If the city does not allow the University to begin watering now, landscaping may be delayed until next spring.
"The question then becomes whether it makes more sense to just plant during the cooler months of the year or whether the city would rather that we wait to do the grass next spring," Belanger said.
Administrators have been working with HadenStanziale'Äîa planning, landscaping architecture and civil engineering firm'Äîfor about two years to design the WEL landscaping.
Tim Snyder, a project landscape architect from HadenStanziale'Äîwhich has also been involved in designing outdoor areas at Krzyzewskiville, the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy and the Duke University Medical Center entry'Äîsaid the designers wanted the landscape to give residents at the WEL a sense of their own space, while at the same time incorporating the building into the existing environment.
"We were trying as a design team to create a new sense of quad space... that is associated to West-Edens Link, but also inviting students from other quads to come down and use that quad," Snyder said.
For example, the space created between Craven Quadrangle and the WEL's House C was designed as a grass-terraced "amphitheater," which Snyder hopes will be used for social events.
To make the WEL blend in with its surroundings, Snyder said, the landscaping designs incorporate plants that are native to the campus area, including oaks, hollies, magnolias and azaleas.
Until those designs are implemented, however, the area around the WEL will remain bare. "It's going to look so much better when we have trees and planting and grass," he said.
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