The Syracuse University Board of Trustees will take a vote at its November meeting on the future of the Carrier Dome, Chancellor Kent Syverud said Monday.

Much of the work that is going on with the Campus Master Plan will go in front of the Board of Trustees at its November meeting, Syverud said in an interview with The Daily Orange. He added that the university is “well teed up” for a decision this academic year.

“There’s a bunch of alternatives going before the Board of Trustees and which one they’ll select, I don’t know yet,” Syverud said. “I know we’re going to have fully documented the cost-benefits issues related to each.”

Syverud added that the Board of Trustees will decide if there will be further notice and comment after it makes its tentative decisions. Syverud said he would “be surprised if there isn’t some input and discussion after the November board meeting.”

The future of the Dome is a part of the Campus Master Plan, a component of Syverud’s Fast Forward initiative. Fast Forward involves the Campus Master Plan, the Academic Strategic Plan and Operational Excellence. The completion of the Academic Strategic Plan was announced over the summer.

SU hopes to have a decision regarding the future of the Carrier Dome made by the end of this academic year, Syverud said.

SU has been weighing three options for the future of the Dome: replacing the current roof as is, installing a new roof structure while simultaneously making other improvements or building a different stadium off-site.

In January 2014, local officials discussed the possibility of building a new, off-site stadium in the city of Syracuse with the help of state funding. Mayor Stephanie Miner appointed a task force to look into the possibility of a new stadium, while Syverud created a workgroup to look into the viability of the Carrier Dome’s roof and it released its report relating to the current life span of the Dome last May.

In February, the university hired Populous, a global architecture firm that specializes in designing sports facilities, to help assess the options. Populous has 13 offices worldwide and six offices in the U.S., and has designed stadiums such as Kyle Field at Texas A&M University.

Sasaki Associates, a Massachusetts-based architecture firm hired by SU for the Campus Master Plan, presented its preliminary findings to the university community in April. Among those findings were connecting the Dome to Archbold Gymnasium, which Syverud said “is not air conditioned and has other issues,” and what is now the Falk Complex.

Archbold and Flanagan Gymnasium would both undergo renovations, according to the findings by Sasaki. The goal of connecting the buildings is to make the Dome a bigger part of student life, a Sasaki representative said at the time.

Clarification: In a previous version of this article, the Board of Trustees’ role in deciding plans for the Carrier Dome was unclear. The Board will discuss the Dome’s tentative future at its November meeting.

Published on October 19, 2015 at 4:58 pm

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