Planning Commission Approves New College Building

A rendering of the proposed Sharples student center, south elevation. The building should be completed by fall 2023. Courtesy of DLR Group.

Greg Brown, Swarthmore College’s Vice President for Finance and Administration, presented the plans for new dining and student centers to the Swarthmore Planning Commission. Photo: Rachel Pastan

Swarthmore Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a land development plan from Swarthmore College for the construction of a new dining and student center. Representatives from the college and their design team presented preliminary plans for the project. They asked for waivers of four borough ordinances, answered questions, and clarified issues of concern.

Swarthmore College Vice President for Finance and Administration Greg Brown gave an overview of the project. The current dining center, Sharples Dining Hall, is inadequate for current needs, he said. It was built to serve 900 students, but enrollment at the college has grown to 1,650. Nor is Sharples suitable for current trends in college food service. For example, it was designed to serve food from steam trays, whereas the college increasingly intends to serve locally sourced food. The new dining center will enjoy a lot of natural light, be more accessible for people with disabilities, and provide more flexible configurations for different uses.

The college plans to site the new dining center just south of Sharples, while Sharples itself will be drastically overhauled. The old and new buildings will be attached at a corner with a courtyard between them. Sharples will be turned into a student center — what Brown called a community common hub. “The last time the college had a hub,” he said, “was 1983…[before] the old Tarble burned.” In conversations with students, he told the commission, the lack of a common place to relax on campus comes up repeatedly. Sharples “has all the bones of a really terrific student center,” Brown said, citing its ski lodge feel and large fireplace.

Kyle MacGeorge of Langan Engineering presented the civil engineering aspects of the plan, including stormwater management and proposed walkways. He detailed the waivers being requested. One requests relief from indicating boundaries and neighbors on the submitted plans, since the proposed construction area is surrounded by other campus buildings. A second seeks to dispense with a traffic study because, MacGeorge noted, this project involves no new parking and is not designed to bring more people to campus. 

Trees

The final waiver, which drew the most discussion, has to do with removing and replanting trees. The Borough of Swarthmore generally requires replacement trees for a building project to be at least 3½ inches in diameter, but the trees that will be planted as part of this project would mostly be smaller. 67 trees will be taken down, and 123 replacement trees will be planted.

Landscape architect Mara Baird outlined the steps the college had taken to preserve as many trees as possible and to plant new ones in such a way that they are likely to thrive. She said the design team had worked closely with the Scott Arboretum to site the project where it avoids cutting down significant collections of cedars, pines, and other species. Three particularly valuable trees on the site will be moved to different parts of campus. 

The arboretum also advised the design team on what tree species to plant. Many of the varieties were selected to bolster particular areas of the arboretum’s collection. Project manager Susan Smythe stated that best practice at the arboretum is to plant smaller trees, which generally grow better than larger ones. She also said that the types of trees the arboretum wants the college to plant are hard to acquire in large sizes. 

Planning Commission Chair Chris DeBruyn suggested that if the college or the arboretum disagrees with the borough’s tree ordinance, they should ask the borough to change it. “If you think we’re telling people to do the wrong thing, you should come and have a conversation with us,” he said. 

Courtesy of DLR Group.

Stormwater

A large part of the meeting was devoted to stormwater. “There’s tons of stormwater management included in this project,” MacGeorge said. In answer to questions about specific aspects of the design from DeBruyn, the engineer described what he called a ribbon of stormwater management features, including green roofs, bioretention, multiple small drains, and meadow plantings. He described a reuse cistern that will capture water from the roof and bring it back into the building for a variety of purposes. “We’re going above and beyond” Swarthmore Borough and Department of Environmental Protection requirements, he said. MacGeorge indicated that when the project is finished, the site will send less stormwater into Crum Creek than it does now.

After many architectural plans were examined and many questions answered, the commissioners voted to recommend to Borough Council that the plan be approved as presented, and the requested waivers granted. The council is expected to take up the plan at its next work session on Monday, March 2, and vote on it at its next legislative session on Monday, March 9.

Swarthmore College hopes to start construction on the project this summer. The new dining center is scheduled to be finished in time for the opening of the 2022-23 school year. The entire project should be completed by the fall of 2023.