A meeting for the Frederiksen Court expansion was hosted for its residents to gather more information, voice their concerns and further understand the current expansion construction.

An informational and interactive session organized by the Frederiksen Court Community Council with Pete Englin, department of residence director, Roger Graden, department of residence associate director and Mark Miller, parking director.

“We were hoping for around 40 people, and it looked like we had about that much,” Joseph Simpson, senior in history and Frederiksen Court community council chair.

Simpson explained the confusions and that the meeting was to show the students the set plans for construction. 

The meeting started off with a slideshow presentation mentioning on the expansion construction, a project timeline and the parking plans. The questions and suggestions brought up were mainly parking related.

Englin explained the Frederiksen Court apartments that are in front of the train tracks will have triple pane windows so that the noise from the train will be minimized.

Theodore Dieckmann, a Frederiksen Court resident and a senior in psychology asked, “Why didn’t you just make the 13th Street parking permanent?”

Englin said they have looked at the safety involved to make the 13th Street parking spaces safe but the parking space at Haber are a better and safer location for students to park.

Sally Sheimo, representative for the ’60s buildings in the Frederiksen Court community council and a junior in interior design, suggested that the new parking lot along Haberbe formed in as long stretched parking. Parking could then be spread out for the use and convenience of the residents in various buildings in the Frederiksen Court area.

Graden said that the lights on the crosswalk toward 13th Street have become more pedestrian-friendly. They are looking to put in flashing pedestrian crossing lights at the crosswalk to be made available to further ensure the safety of the students as they are crossing the street over to the parking lot.

Beds that can be lofted and new Centiva floorings are going to be in these new buildings, Miller said.

The replacement of bad shaped carpeted floors of the old buildings to the new floorings will happen gradually as mentioned by Mary Beth Golemo, Frederiksen Court Apartment Community Manager.

A Twitter account, Facebook page, flyers and even newsletters were a few ideas given to further update the Frederiksen Court residence on the progress of the expansion constructions.

“I thought it was really helpful,” Sheimo said. “It was just nice to hear people that aren’t in the council’s opinions.”

Sheimo feels that her questions and concerns were answered through the meeting and finally understands the full picture of this expansion.

“We’ve been talking about bits and pieces of it in our council meetings but now just seeing exactly what its going to look like come spring of next year,” Sheimo said.

Sheimo mentioned that there might be another Frederiksen Court meeting in fall 2013 and spring 2014 if there are any more concerns, but only one meeting per semester.

“There are still going to be complaints; that’s just the way it is especially with parking, but at least there will be an understanding throughout the community,” Simpson said.