Breuninger Hall opened its doors to students this fall, but was met with a series of small crises. There were problems with windows, air conditioning and washers and dryers. Then one problem came up that was a bit more dire.
Taylor University was notified by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) that the southwest corner of the parking lot was built on a wetland area and a small stream once ran under the two ponds outside Breu.
"(The stream) is a tributary that eventually leads to Taylor Lake, (which) overflows to the Mississinewa River and wherever there is flowing water; it's part of the tributaries they (IDEM) control," said Vice President for Business Administration Ron Sutherland. "So it was kind of two parts. There's the wetland area that was south by the parking lot and the stream itself."
Taylor University began applying for a permit to begin reconstruction on the protected area, which IDEM later accepted.
"In particular right now, we're in a time where the neighbors can respond-because they have to write the neighbors around the property (to) let them know, so that they have a chance to respond. Then they'll issue a final (plan)," said Sutherland.
IDEM has required Taylor to either restore the wetland area where it was originally, or to build a new wetland area somewhere else on campus. Currently, Taylor's plan is to plant more trees south of the parking lot and then to build a substitute wetlands area north of the Randall Environmental Science Complex, according to Sutherland.Both areas will then require monitoring for a five-year period, pending IDEM's final approval.
Sutherland clarified that since the contractor was the one who was responsible for the mistake, the university would have to pay no costs in the restoration of the wetlands.
"All of this is being done at the expense of the contractor (Touchstone) and (their) insurance," said Sutherland. "Because they were responsible for all of the permits and all the applications. So there's no student dollars or debt that's being issued to make this remedy. It's all at the responsibility of the contractor. They've been great working with us to try to make this right."
Changes will potentially begin in the fall.
