| The state has already invested almost $3 million for the proposed $7.9 million Fremont County Center on land at the west edge of Cañon City just off U.S. Highway 50. The basic design for the school building and landscaping has been finished and final architectural design is within a week of completion, May said.
The next step will be demolition in December of the former prison structures at the site of the old Prison Gardens. Site development and utilities extension will be made from January to May, he said.
Building construction is projected to begin in July with completion in August 2001.
"There is nothing standing in the way," he said. "We have the funding locked in."
Fremont County residents contributed $750,000 to a building fund several years ago, which was the reason the state decided to fund the new campus. The initial goal was for $1 million in non-state funding, but the $250,000 shortfall was expected to come from non-profit foundations.
However, most of the foundations don't give money for college campuses, May said. Those that will give money for a school campus want to see a broader base of donations.
"A small number of people gave very generously (to raise the $750,000)," he said. "It isn't how much was given, but the numbers of people who gave."
Advisory board members discussed several ways to encourage more people to make donations. Some of the suggestions included getting students involved in fund-raising events in the community.
"We want to involve a larger base," said Mary Griffith, PCC vice president of Educational Development and head of the Fremont County Center.
The new campus has been designed to be a community center with some rooms having the design to be opened up into larger meeting rooms, she said. The concept is to allow local groups to use the rooms or seminars and convention meeting rooms during the day when there are fewer education classes meeting.
Most of the classrooms at the campus will be in use during the evening because that is when most of the students take classes. The number of students is up and use of other class rooms in the community may continue even after the new campus is built, Griffith said.
The campus classrooms will be designed to house the large number of computers that are becoming a necessity for modern education. There will be a science wing with a lab for the nursing studies, she added.
The intent will be to have a computer link up so that some classes may be taught by an instructor from another city. PCC plans to be in the leading edge of modern education, Griffith said.
Because of the hills around the center site, there also will be open space around the new center. There will be a lot of open space down by Sand Creek, she said.
Some of the older, stone prison buildings at the site will be preserved, Griffith said. Grant money from the Colorado Historical Society is being requested to help with assessment and restoration.
Demolition of the non-historical buildings will be done with inmate labor, but it is being held up because of asbestos and other environmental concerns. A company that specializes in hazardous materials removal will be hired to do the asbestos work before inmates are used in the demolition work, she said.
The new campus should enhance the entire area to the west of the Hogbacks, May said. A sewer line extension to the area will open it up to development. |