Yavapai Community College has two new projects it is working on. The first is connecting a water line from Building L to the trailhead restroom. It is currently under construction.
The second is consideration of a new teaching greenhouse to replace the one that was near Building L. The location of this new 18’ x 48’ unit is under review by the Community College.
The Community College is seeking to purchase land so it can place an electronic marquee near 89A and Black Hills Drive in Cottonwood. (The Community College is several blocks west on Black Hills Drive from that location.) The project is part of a larger plan that includes having electronic marquees on the Prescott Campus, CTEC, Verde Campus and the Prescott Valley Center.
The College Facilities department has already installed a new electrical service for the Prescott Campus marque. That marquee replaces the existing one and is scheduled for completion the second week of February. Both CTEC and Verde Valley Campus require land acquisition and no deal has been finalized yet.
The marquees are among the projects approved by the District Governing Board for 2020-21.
Below is a rendering of a possible marquee for the Verde Campus.
Yavapai Community College Facilities Management provided an update on construction of Building “L” on the Verde Campus in Clarkdale in its January 2020 Newsletter. Construction appears to be on time for a fall 2020 opening, although a great deal remains to be accomplished by then.
According to the newsletter, “Structural steel is installed on the second floor to support the new roof structure. The flooring to support the simulator labs is poured and work continues on installation of the mechanical units on the second floor. Glazing will be installed in January as the interior of both levels is dried in to prepare for the installation of drywall. Exterior work includes the completion of the new water main to support the fire sprinkler system, pouring the foundations and slabs for the new entry, hallways, and meeting rooms.”
The following are some photos taken from the January Yavapai Community College Facilities Management Newsletter showing the progress on Building “L”. You read the entire Facilities Management Newsletter by clicking here.
At least four projects involving renovation, new construction, and major upkeep are under way in the Community College District. The largest of these, renovation of Building “L” on the Verde Campus, appears on schedule to open in the fall 2020. The College reports that it is enclosing “the first-floor entrance by installing structural steel and new flooring to support the simulator lab space. Concrete polishing is nearing completion in the Science Labs along with the installation of fire sprinklers and HVAC ductwork and piping. Framing is also underway for the new student break out study spaces. On the second floor, framing is underway to enclose the hallway and prepare for the new roof.”
The decision to move the Yavapai Community College Foundation from Building 32 to Building 19 (the library), on the Prescott Campus is complete. Renovation was completed with move-in occurring November 25. The College reported that close to 85% of this job was completed in-house with the Facilities team, which resulted in cost savings.
The College also reports that work in Building 32 on the Prescott Campus is being handled “almost entirely” with the Facilities and ITS teams. Construction began in November and will wrap up March 3. This building will house expanded administrative offices for the President and her staff.
An analysis by the Yavapai Community College Institutional Effectiveness and Research Department shows that the Prescott campus has essentially the same risk of a catastrophic forest or brush fire as Paradise, California. Recall that the Paradise fire killed 85 people and covered an area of 153,336 acres (almost 240 sq. miles), and destroyed 18,804 structures. The total damage was estimated at $16.5 billion.
Tom Hughes, Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research at the Community College, presented this analysis at the November 12 District Governing Board meeting. He asked the Board members to reflect on future construction and how the College should deal with the potential of facing a fire of the magnitude of the Paradise fire in the District.
It was noted that over 400 hundred colleges and universies (roughly 8% of market) have formed a Climate Leadership network, comming to a combinaon of reducing greenhouse gases their school, becoming carbon neutral, and/ or developing community capacity to deal with climate change. (htps://secondnature.org/climate-aconguidance/ network/).
Yavapai Community College Facilities Management reported in its November newsletter that work was continuing inside and outside Building “L” on the Verde Campus. Inside, the contractors are installing duct-work, plumbing, and electrical. Structural work is underway to support a new floor above the advanced manufacturing lab. The new floor will support part of the simulation lab.
Outside, structural work is underway to support the foundation for the new building front entry located at the west end of Building “L.”
Construction of Building “L” on the Verde Campus is proceeding. The renovation is estimated to cost anywhere from $4 to $6 million when completed (cost includes related facilities electrical, air conditioning, heating, etc. upgrades that probably should have been done as a part of the 22011-13 Campus upgrade.) As anticipated by the Administration, it appears that the Community College will be able to open the renovated facility by the fall 2020.
Facility Management reports that current
“interior work consists of metal stud framing on the first floor for new science labs along with columns in the soon to be enclosed first-floor breezeway. Fire sprinklers are being installed on both floors, along with ductwork and insulation.
“Metal stud framing will began the week of September 16 for the second-floor spaces. Structural steel is being installed to construct a floor above the advanced manufacturing lab, which will eventually be simulator lab space.
“Exterior work continues with trenching for roof drainage along with a new water line to support the fire sprinkler system at the west end of the building. As soon as the new line is inspected a
nd approved by the fire marshal, lot 10 will be available for more parking.”
Building L will allow the Community College to increase capacity for both nursing and allied health while possibly adding other programs in emergency medical services, parent medicine and home healthcare. It will also allow the Community College to create and expend quality CTE programming that meets local workforce needs and prepares students for careers. (College is continuing to examine the possibility of constructing a separate large, flexible CTE facility.) The College may add a manufacturing lab to building L and a lab for short-term programs that could ramp up and down as needed.
Construction has begun on building the future home of the Yavapai Community College Foundation offices at the library on the Prescott Campus. The library began removing all magazines, papers, etc. earlier this week. Construction began in earnest today.
Requests by various persons to local Governing Board officials and the College for general information about the decision to move the Foundation offices to this location have gone unanswered.
Construction on Building “L” on the Verde Valley Campus appears to have begun in earnest. This past week construction crews put up fencing that covered most of the parking area adjacent the building in anticipation of construction.
Yavapai Community College is putting the finishing touches on the new Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy (NARTA) facilities on the Prescott Campus. Recall that the Wills’ administration formally announced in March 2018 it had decided to move NARTA from the Prescott Valley Center, where it had been located since 1996, to the Prescott Campus. Per dollar figures given the Governing Board, the College budgeted spending $1,528,000 in 2018-19 and an additional $509,000 in 2019-20 to cover the costs of the move.
The cost includes construction of a 2,500 square foot training facility and outdoor exercise equipment to prepare a NARTA student to finish a required physical aptitude test. The Community College has also installed new sophisticated training .equipment such as the VirTra police officer’s simulator. The VirTra uses a multi-screen projector system to project real life actual scenarios in which officers must make split second decisions about use of deadly force.
Taxpayers picked up the $2 million-dollar price tag (no grant money) for the move. NARTA runs for 20 weeks twice a year and graduates about 30 students after each 20 week training program is completed.
Critics of the move point out that NARTA’s former location on the Prescott Valley Campus was described as a “state-of-the-art training facility.” However, the Master Plan justified the move as minimizing travel for faculty and students and locating a program on a campus with housing that the program requires. The Prescott Valley Chief of Police, Bryan Jarrell and the Prescott Chief of Police, Debora Black, both spoke to the Board at the March 2018 meeting and urged the Governing Board to approve the move.
NARTA acts as a regional training center serving city, county, tribal, and state law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Arizona. Recruits must be sponsored by an agency before entering the academy. Classes such as Drivers and Firearms Training and Stop and Approach are held at off-campus locations.
Community College NARTA VirTra simulator
VirTra simulator illustration from manufacturer.