North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 29, 2011 Page: 2 of 8
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Page 2
News
"hursday, September 29,2011
Amber Arnold and Isaac Wright, News Editors
ntdnewseditors@gmail.com
Budget short alls pose
problems for libraries
Ann Smajstrla
Staff Writer
Martin Halbert, UNT dean of
libraries, approached the Student
Government Association during
Wednesday's senate meeting
to discuss the library system's
$800,000 budget shortfall,
The library's budget was
decreased from $17,508,295 in
the 2011 fiscal year, an amount
Halbert said was already too
low, to $16,099,726 in the 2012
fiscal year.
"Reliance on enrollment is a
double-edged sword," he said.
"Enrollment decrease this year
is having a huge impact on our
budget."
The library needs more
money to keep up with growing
research collections and main-
tain the quality of services for
student learning, Halbert said.
He cited library budgets at
a number of Tier One research
universities as an example of
what UNT should be spending
to achieve the same status.
Ninety-nine percent of library
funding comes from the $16.50-
per-credit-hour fee students
pay each semester. This figure
has stayed the same since 2004
while the cost of research mate-
rials has climbed by 7 percent or
more each year, Halbert wrote
in an open letter to the UNT
community.
Halbert suggested an increase
of the current library use fee, but
said he would like to differen-
tiate the sources of revenue for
the UNT libraries and not rely
on student fees alone.
"It was touching to see that
[Halbert] came to the meeting,
acknowledged the problem and
A
Photo by Andrew Williams/Intern
Martin Halbert, dean of libraries, presented information about the library's
$800,000 budget shortfall during the SGA meeting Wednesday.
asked us for help," said College
of Arts and Sciences senator
Laura Ulmet. "As a statisti-
cian and economist, I think
I have the tools to alleviate
some of the financial burden
of the library."
After Halbert's presenta-
tion, Honors College senator
Matt Florez proposed an "Anti-
Textbook Reserve Initiative."
The bill would do away
with the Textbook Reserve
Initiative, which allocates 5
percent of SGA's budget to
departments to be spent on
textbooks for student use in
the library.
Although it is included in
the bylaws, the current initia-
tive is not included in this
year's SGA budget, and the
association is not enforcing
it, Florez said.
After hearing Halbert speak
about the library's financial
needs, Florez said he is leaning
toward keeping the initiative
in place.
"I need to talk with [SGA
President Blake Windham]
and see if we can set aside the
money for it," Florez said. "We
also need to ask the depart-
ments if the initiative would
benefit them."
The SGA's fiscal committee
will discuss the bill during its
meeting immediately before
next week's senate meeting.
UNT
UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH TEXAS
global learning and experience
Study Abroad: Go where you want to be.
STUDY
ABROAD
FAIR
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5
10 A.M. - 2 P.M.
OUTSIDE THE UNION, NEAR SAGE HALL
ity approves student
housing construction
Alex Macon
Senior Staff Writer
Dallas-based Crosswind
Development Partners LLC
is planning to build a five-
story student housing apart-
ment complex on two acres at
the southwest corner of Eagle
Drive and Bernard Street, at
least in part to account for a
booming student population
at UNT.
The City Council voted
6-1 last week to approve a
rezoning of the property to
allow for high-density student
housing, clearing the way for
plans on the 209-unit - about
600 beds - complex to move
forward.
"Density's always been
kind of a bad word in Denton
over the years," Mayor Mark
Burroughs said. "It has
been seen as the enemy of
keeping things small-town
in nature."
However, Burroughs said
the city had to "cope with the
explosive growth" of UNT,
which he said had limited
space to build additional
student housing.
To prevent the destruction
of historic neighborhoods,
avoid excessive car traffic and
provide students with housing
close to campus, Burroughs
said authorizing high-density
housing on Eagle Drive was
necessary.
Council memb er Chris Watts
voted against the rezoning.
Although he supports the
development of the area in
question, he said he struggles
with the high density of the
planned complex.
Watts named four other
privately-owned high-density
student housing complexes
that are either new or currently
under construction, including
Midtown, the Grove and the
development on Fry Street,
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Legend
Graphic courtesy of city of Denton
An aerial view of Eagle Drive shows the proposed site for Crosswind Apart-
ments. The city of Denton approved re-zoning the area to accommodate the
complex.
which he said together account
for 1,962 beds.
"I'm concerned that we have
this high density without a
higher policy managing this,"
Watts said.
A three-level, partially
underground parking garage
is included in the plans for
the Crosswind Village, and
will be located underneath
the complex itself.
The planned complex will
lease by the bedroom.
The City Council stipu-
lated that the building cannot
exceed 65 feet in height, and
that units in the complex can
contain no more than four
bedrooms each.
Todd Thomas, a partner
with Crosswind Development,
told the Council there were no
plans to include retail in the
complex. He said the retail
center farther down Eagle
Drive, which includes Chicken
Express and Subway, was ripe
for development.
Earlier this month, the
Council approved rezoning
to allow the Midtown
Apartments, located near
Carroll Boulevard and Hickory
Street, to construct an addi-
tional 40 rooms, or 150 beds.
Carly Tester, a radio, tele-
vision and film sophomore,
lives at Craig Place, an apart-
ment complex near the prop-
erty Crosswind Development
plans to build on.
"I like Denton as a small
town and don't want to see
a bunch of huge apartments
down the street," Tester said.
"That street's already really
busy."
rove
Continued from Page 1
City inspection reports
obtained by the Daily state that
one of The Grove's final inspec-
tions was on Sept. 3, the same day
as the incident. The apartment's
temporary certificate of occu-
pancy was issued Aug. 25 and one
final inspection was completed
Sept. 4 and a follow-up inspection
was conducted Sept. 16.
The incident has prompted the
city to take a hard look at similar
balconies installed on Denton
apartments, said Denton city
spokesman John Cabrales. He
said city inspectors have been
investigating the incident but
have not yet released a state-
ment.
"We were investigating
what happened that morning,"
Cabrales said. "We're still in the
process of doing that. We're also
really inspecting other 'Juliet'
balconies at other apartments
in the city."
Arnold said it is possible
Campus Crestreceivedan exemp-
tion to allow the balconies, but
also said doors that lead onto an
unsafe structure are not allowed
by building codes. Arnold said
the first step in constructing any
building is to submit plans to the
city. From there, she said the city
would have to approve the design
of the building before construc-
tion could begin.
Arnold said the inspection
process happens in such a way
that the collapse wouldn't affect
a final inspection because the
balconies were already built in
accordance with the plans.
"Once you've inspected some-
thing, you don't go back and
inspect it again," Arnold said. "I
don't think this is an inspection
problem. Inspectors are going
to inspect and say, 'This is what
you're going to build according to
the plans. If you have a decora-
tive balcony they would have
said it met the plans.' It would
be a plan check problem."
Some residents at The Grove
are not concerned about the
structure of the balconies since
there are only four balconies
overlooking the pool in The
Grove's inner courtyard. Jarell
Greene, a history junior and
resident of The Grove who does
not live in one of the four apart-
ments with a balcony, said The
Grove staff has not made any
announcements about the
balconies, nor have they posted
warnings that the balconies are
unsafe. Greene said it wasn't a
big deal that there were doors
opening onto the balconies, but
thought it was wrong that they
did not lock the doors.
"They shouldn't have had
access to them, anyway,"
Greene said. "It worries me
a little bit, [that they ignored
the building codes] but these
are the only places that have
them."
Green
Continued from Page 1
The Office of Sustainability has
received applications for proj-
ects ranging from the use of an
ionic cleaning agent to a method
of paper-free communication,
Cocco said.
"[Submitting project
proposals] gives people avenue to
flesh out these creative ideas and
what they envision on campus,"
said Mendie Schmidt, assistant
director of outreach for campus
sustainability programs and a
public administration graduate
student.
Proposals can be submitted
online through the "We Mean
Green" Fund website and will
be accepted for consideration
through next month.
The Office of Sustainability
focuses on four areas of action:
research, outreach, opera-
tions and teaching students, or
ROOTS.
Online applications can be
submitted at http://sustain-
able.unt.edu/we-mean-green-
fund. For more information on
sustainability at UNT, visit http://
sustainable.unt.edu.
940.565.2207
Sycamore Hall, Second Floor
UNT - International
IH3TC1 ramiliT^I CI M
Nortl i Texas Dai J y
Phone 940-565-2851 • Fax 940-565-4659 • Email dailyads@unt.edu • www.ntdaily.com
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Pherigo, Josh. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 29, 2011, newspaper, September 29, 2011; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth209175/m1/2/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.