The Hanover Town Planning Board approved a 22,000-square-foot expansion of Wilder Hall at a sparsely attended meeting last night after visiting the site earlier in the day.
Jack Wilson, assistant director of facilities for the College, said the major part of the expansion will be a three-story addition on the east side of Wilson Hall.
The new portion will include additional office space and rooms for mechanical equipment. The College will also build an additional floor on the south wing, allowing it to match the north wing.
Wilson previously told The Dartmouth the $4.5 million expansion, which will "begin in June and end in January of 2000, will be the first of a four-year series of science building renovations."
Wilson said the College is not planning "a lot of alteration to the landscape" except to add handicap parking spaces and extend the parking lot so there is room to turn vehicles around. The College will also build an access road from East Wheelock Street to the construction site to accommodate heavy equipment.
Board member Christopher Kennedy proposed acceptance of the building plans, and the motion passed unanimously.
Hanover Conservation Council President Robert Norman raised the only concern about the construction.
He said he was worried about the safety of a maple tree which he thought may be affected by the new access road. An amendment to the proposition ensures all possible efforts will be made to preserve the tree.
Other amendments include correcting an error in which the compass on one map was reversed and encouraging Dartmouth to adhere as much as possible to the current Noise Ordinance law.
The ordinance prohibits excessive noise, such as the movement of heavy equipment, between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
