LARAMIE - When the final gun sounds to end the Nov. 22nd "Border War" football game against Colorado State, the University of Wyoming will begin erecting a $12 million structure on the east side of War Memorial Stadium. The project which will provide luxury suites and club seating for football boosters.

At the same time, UW will be seeking public input as part of a comprehensive long-range planning process for the future uses of all of the school's property east of 15th Street, including an undeveloped foothills area on the eastern fringe of town, which was the subject of controversy two years ago.

In December 2006, the UW Trustees dropped plans for a large housing development and expanded golf course on that land. Although some roads had been bladed, street signs put up and a lottery conducted for many of the lots, UW abandoned the idea after Laramie citizens and the city council expressed grave concerns about the housing development's effects on the city's main water supply aquifer.

UW Vice President for Administration Phillip Harris said this week that the school's present plans no longer include expansion of the golf course or a housing subdivision.

Harris said the football stadium project will include structural repairs, restrooms, concessions and disabled access along with the new prestige seating structure. It will cost about $21 million, half paid by state tax funds and half by private pledges. UW hopes to complete the project in time for the 2010 season. War Memorial currently seats 30,514 fans.

Harris said premier seating projects have also been completed at Utah and CSU.

"It's an opportunity for athletics to get some corporate sponsorships for those suites," he said.

In a press conference nearly a year ago, UW Athletics Director Tom Burman said he envisioned a club seating area below a hospitality area in the middle of the structure, with six suites, each seating up to 16 people, on each side of the club seats.

"You will go up an elevator, enter into a hospitality area, and go down to your seats," Burman said. "The club seating will probably be outdoors with some sort of roof, with radiant heat in the floor and the top, and you will go back inside a glassed-in area for hospitality."

Burman didn't return a call this week for an update on the construction project.

UW ranked last in the Mountain West Conference and 88th among the 119 Division I colleges in football attendance in 2007, according to figures on the NCAA's Web site. The Cowboys drew an average of 22,190 for the six games, compared with an average of 64,497 for Brigham Young.

First-ranked Michigan drew 110,264 fans per game. Despite Herculean efforts by the UW Athletic Department staff to provide more pre- and post-game activities this year, attendance dropped to an average of 19,458 per game prior to Saturday's game against San Diego State.

East campus planning

UW has hired Moore Iacofano Goltsman Inc. to consult on the planning project. According to its Web site, MIG "is a woman-owned corporation"

headquartered in Berkeley, Calif., which has done master plans for West Los Angeles College and Bastyr University in Washington.

"They will be compiling information on things like where utility corridors exist, parking, how we are utilizing existing spaces," Harris said. "They will have a series of information-gathering sessions, both on-campus and in Laramie, and soliciting statewide input on things like way-finding and parking."

He said UW wants to utilize the best land-use planning for future decisions.

"In the early '80s, UW placed the molecular biology/animal science building out north of the Arena-Auditorium, which sort of isolated faculty who have collaborative projects with other faculty located in the west campus," Harris said. "We are looking at determining what are compatible functions to place within zones in the east campus so we don't end up trying to put an academic facility that won't work for a 10-minute class change time."

He said possible uses for the east-side lands include an expansion of the existing business incubator and creation of an arts and humanities center.

The plan will also delve into what to do about student housing for the future.

"We have our conference and retail center sitting south of antiquated student housing apartments," Harris said. "We need guidance on what is the role today versus 60 years ago on the need for apartment-style housing."

Harris said MIG will lead an information and data-gathering process for the next few months, with a draft report to be finished by midsummer and a final report to the trustees in the fall of 2009.