New plans also include an 18,000 square foot Conference Center as part of project that will compete with private resorts and public centers for business. College already has spent $5.8 million improving Prescott Valley Center in 2017; plus unknown amounts in 2019 and 2023 to purchase land and complete phase 2 of its expansion
In November 2022, Yavapai Community College executives presented a list of priority projects to the residents of Yavapai County and the District Governing Board, one of which involved expanding the Health Sciences Center now located at the Prescott Valley Center. At the time, the experts estimated the expansion to cost about $14.52 million. The District Governing Board approved the request in concept, except for the Third District’s representative at the time, Mr. Paul Chevalier.
In May 2023, when the 2023-2024 budget was unanimously approved, the Prescott Valley Center Health Sciences project in concept was scheduled to begin the planning stage in 2026. However, it now appears from the timeline sketch provided by the College at the October 2023 District Governing Board meeting (see sketch below), that plans for beginning the project from concept to reality began only a month following the May meeting. A huge change!
The plans, as unveiled in October, include an 18,000 square foot conference center on the third floor. The total cost of the project has increased from $14.52 million to $39 million with $9 million allocated for the third floor conference center. The College suggests that it may obtain funding assistance from the state and federal governments for the project.
When the Community College announced its $39 million project in October 2023 some County residents pondered whether they may have been intentionally misled by the November 2022 presentation and the $14.52 price tag, only to discover eleven months later that the College was now intending a $39 million dollar project. Other community members are also questioning the wisdom of adding a conference center as a part of the Health Sciences building for an estimated $9 million that may directly compete with private resorts and small cities for conference business. That idea for a conference center does not appear in the Master Plan and was not discussed in November 2022 when the concept was approved.
However, residents’ concerns will have little or no impact. Residents have learned that incredible differences in estimates and actual construction mean little to a sleepy District Governing Board dominated by west county politicos. They will essentially rubber-stamp whatever the College brings forth when it asks for final approval of a project on the west side of Mingus Mountain.
In one sense, the District Governing Board’s approval process for College projects is like a train that has already left the station. Residents’ concerns are akin to a small pebble on the tracks that the train will simply pass over. The train’s destination is predetermined, and the Board’s approval is a mere formality. Moreover, there is never any serious follow-up by the Board on such projects.
*Note: Since 2017 the Community College has been spending millions to upgrade the existing Prescott Valley Center. It completed a $5.8 million dollar phase one construction project at the Center in 2017. Between then and 2023, additional hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on phase two of renovation and improvements along with land acquisition.
