A: Ultimately, the Colby Green will refer to an oval lawn across Mayflower Hill Drive from Miller Library and the academic quadrangle. "Colby Green" also is being used to describe the broader campus expansion project, which includes other landscaping, environmental work to treat runoff water, preparation of building sites, and construction of new buildings and parking areas.

A: Shaping the Colby Green lawn and surrounding areas, building storm water treatment areas, and installing utility service to all proposed building sites will be substantially completed in November 2004. Final completion is scheduled in May 2005.

A: Lunder House (admissions), completed in 1992, will sit at the south end of Colby Green.

On April 17, 2004, ground was broken for the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center on the east side of Colby Green. Completion is anticipated in the summer of 2005.

The Diamond Building for social sciences and interdisciplinary studies (including the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement) will be located at the southwest corner of Colby Green. Groundbreaking is planned for spring of 2005 and completion is anticipated in the summer of 2006.

A science building for the math, computer science, and psychology departments is expected to be built sometime in the second half of the decade. It will be at the north end of Colby Green.

A music performance and instruction center, while not facing the Colby Green lawn, is part of the 10-year construction plan for expanding the campus. It will be located in what is now the Woodman-Coburn parking lot.

A: No. Mayflower Hill Drive, which runs through campus, will continue to be a public roadway. The state DOT is starting plans for construction of a bypass road running from the end of Washington Street out behind the soccer fields to the County Road. If this bypass is built the city and the College have agreed that the steep hill from the field house down to the railroad could be closed to automobile traffic. So it might be a more circuitous route to travel through the campus to get from one MaineGeneral campus to the other, say, but it will still be a public thoroughfare. Regardless, traffic-calming measures are anticipated for Mayflower Hill Drive to ensure the safety of students crossing the road to get to the Colby Green.

A: Parking will be managed so that new lots are built before existing lots are decommissioned. The net effect will be an increase in the number of spaces on campus, and at no time during construction will there be a net loss of spaces.

A: A broader assessment of Colby's parking needs was done as part of the Campus Planning process. In addition to new lots being built in the Colby Green district, significant changes were recommended for the Roberts parking area as well. At some point the College also plans to decommission the Eustis parking area, returning that space to lawn, but not until sufficient replacement parking has been built.

A: No. The College plans to maintain enrollments at the current level -- approximately 1,800 students. New construction addresses needs for academic and administrative space identified in the strategic planning process (2000-02), and it is driven by the programs it will serve, not by any plan to increase the number of students.

A: Early in the project some of the trails were blocked by site fences or other barriers, but plans are in place to reconnect all of the trails so they can be used by all members of the community, including cross-country and Nordic ski teams.

A: Geothermal heating and cooling is planned for the alumni and development center and for the new science building at the north end of Colby Green. Three geothermal wells for the alumni and development building system were drilled in October 2003. They are six inches in diameter and 1,500 feet deep. The water temperature 1,500 feet underground stays consistently in the mid to upper 50s (F). When that water is pumped up into the building in the summer it is cool compared to ambient air temperatures and is used to cool the building; in winter it's relatively warm and a heat-pump system warms liquid used in the building's heating and cooling systems.

A: Millett is currently occupied by College Relations offices, which will move to the new alumni and development center. The best use of the space to be freed in Millett is being studied. One possibility under consideration is to provide office space there for faculty on sabbatical leaves.

A: Response has been positive, even enthusiastic, insofar as the campus expansion is seen as a sign of Colby's vitality. Concerns about future traffic flow through the campus have been raised by individuals unaware that Mayflower Hill Drive will continue to be a public roadway through campus even if the steep hill toward the Thayer Unit of MaineGeneral Medical Center is closed.

A: While geothermal systems cost more to install, operating costs are greatly reduced since heat pumps extract heat (or cooling) from the geothermal wells and there is no need to purchase fossil fuels for heating.

A: Students were consulted and included on committees in all phases of the strategic planning process that generated plans for the Colby Green expansion. Students are working with faculty members doing environmental research and monitoring as development occurs. The project manager will conduct open forums to answer questions as the project proceeds. As additional committees are formed to deal with subsequent phases of campus planning (e.g. long-range parking plans) student representatives will continue to be included.

A: Construction of Colby Green and new buildings are part of a long-range strategic plan for Colby, and detailed budget projections undertaken during the planning process and since show that the College could afford to embark on this ambitious project without out-of-the-ordinary tuition increases. Tuition is forecast to grow throughout higher education, and Colby is not exempt from the pressures causing that growth. However Colby students aren't expected to see additional or special increases because of these projects.

A: Engineers estimated that it will require 60,000 cubic yards of material to build the Colby Green. About 15,000 cubic yards will be moved from one place to another on the site. 15,000 yards of gravel and 30,000 yards of fill will be trucked in.

A: Water runs off developed land faster than off undeveloped land. For this reason, environmental regulations require construction of systems to collect and treat runoff to minimize adverse impact on land and rivers. The systems being installed to handle runoff from the Colby Green project were expanded to treat water that runs off through the area from the rest of the campus. This will control erosion and improve the quality of water discharged into Messalonskee Stream. Though Colby was not required to treat water currently running off from the developed campus, its decision to do so will result in a net gain in water quality even though 14.5 acres are being developed for the expansion.