Samford holds first of several public meetings as part of master planning process

A lot has changed at Samford University since the 1950s, from student population to offered degrees. The university has begun its first master planning process since it moved to its Lakeshore Drive campus about 60 years ago.

The university hired Davis Architects and Dober Lidsky Mathey to head the planning process in October 2015. Randy Pittman, Samford's vice president of university advancement, said the master planning has included talking to over 80 different groups on campus and intensive study of every university building.

At the first of several community meetings on Feb. 23 and 24 at Samford, the firms presented an initial set of findings. George Mathey, a principal at Dober Lidsky Mathey, gave the presentation, which he stressed was preliminary and more focused on the potential challenges the university faces in the future.

These challenges include creating new housing and parking, adding new sports, improving campus security and redesigning campus buildings, such as the University Center, to offer more collaborative spaces for students.

"It was designed for a different Samford," Mathey said of the University Center.

Many buildings at Samford are also in need of significant repair and upgrades, as the average campus building is around 37 years old. ADA accessibility issues also need to be addressed in these maintenance programs.

Mathey said that vehicle and pedestrian accessibility needs to be improved, especially as Samford begins holding classes in the newly acquired Southern Progress buildings. This could include new foot and vehicle paths or shuttles. The university is also looking at improvements to the pedestrian crossing of Lakeshore Drive between Samford's west entrance and the road leading to Homewood High and the university's soccer fields.

These preliminary meetings did not include solutions to the challenges Mathey presented, or a timeline or priority list of projects. Mathey said the firms are still at work on that portion, and he hopes to have more details available in about a month. When that information is ready, he said there will be more meetings to share details with the public and the university board of trustees.

More public meetings will take place in the future, but dates have not been set at this time.