Dean of Admissions Parker Beverage said that, construction disruptions out his window notwithstanding, he thinks the Colby Green will enhance Colby's renowned campus beauty and unique views. "All the admissions tours either pause on the library steps or walk across in front of the library; it's an important view," he said. "If anything, it will be even better, since the Colby Green will give that eastern side of the campus better definition where right now it drops off into the woods."

Perspective from Miller Library.

Phase one of the construction project encompasses 14.5 acres and will develop the site for the alumni center and associated parking areas. Phase two will develop sites for the two academic buildings on the Colby Green and will continue plantings. A third phase will develop the site for the music and performance building and will replace the Runnals parking lot with terraced parking areas.

Since the Colby Green will be the site of the first academic buildings east of the main road through campus, concerns about traffic were raised early in the planning effort, and steps are being taken to mitigate the number and speed of vehicles. Maine's biennial Department of Transportation Improvement Program this year included engineering funds for a bypass that will eliminate the steep hill between Colby and North Street, rerouting that traffic onto County Road behind Colby's field house and soccer fields. When complete, the bypass is expected to reduce significantly traffic flow through the campus. It also will allow the roadway, currently state-maintained, to become a locally maintained thoroughfare, which means the speed limit can be further reduced and traffic-calming measures can be implemented.

Aerial perspective of The Colby Green.

Discussions in 2002 that proposed building a new road between Lunder House and the arboretum and/or a southern bypass to route Mayflower Hill Drive traffic south of campus both have been abandoned.

Environmental regulations require the College to collect, manage and treat storm runoff created by new campus development and construction. Systems have been designed to handle not just the impact of the Colby Green but of all the development proposed in the long-range plan, according to Steve Mohr of Mohr & Seredin Landscape Architects of Portland. Currently, storm water from 30 acres of the developed campus flows into two pipes, and serious erosion problems occur where they discharge on the east side of campus.