Students returning to Elgin Community College this month will see a new library – three times the size of the old building – among other improvements as a $178 million long-term capital plan continues.
The junior college has used the funds from a 2009 referendum to complete several different projects, all varying in scope.
The latest to be finished is the new 59,000-square-foot library. Staff is working to move supplies from the old 18,000-square-foot building to the new one so it’s ready for students this month, said Paul Dawson, managing director of construction projects.
The old building “was about the same size as junior high and high school libraries,” Dawson said, so the new library is more on par with college-level facilities. The building includes a two-story reading room with glass windows, which adds to the aesthetics of the campus.
Also opening next semester is a new 139,000-square-foot heath and life science building, which will house nursing, radiology, biology and other such programs, Dawson said.
The old library and health science buildings will still be used, but will be remodeled for more classroom space and other purposes, he said.
Sharon Konny, vice president of business and finance, noted the opening the new library and health science buildings is about seven months ahead of schedule. Favorable weather and fewer construction projects elsewhere are likely reasons why the work moved quickly.
While the college has other work coming up, including upgrades to the electrical system, the largest pending project in the referendum plan – and likely the final major project – is looming in the near future, Konny said.
Officials are hoping to break ground on a public safety and sustainability center next summer at an undisclosed location in Burlington. Konny said the junior college is still in negotiations to purchase property in the nearby village on the western portion of the school’s boundaries.
After asking for proposals from all 33 municipalities in the junior college’s district about two years ago, five towns expressed an interest in hosting such a facility, Konny said.
The center, which will take about 18 months to complete, will house training facilities for public safety students, including a burn tower. The college’s truck driving program is likely to be moved to the new site, Konny said.
Existing and future sustainability programs will also have a home in Burlington should the plan go through, she said. Courses in the area already offered at the college include introduction to wind energy, wind turbine service and sustainable heating systems.
“We’re constantly monitoring where jobs are going to be coming up in the future,” Konny said. “We see that green energy seems to be a future industry.”
With that, the school will expand on existing programs and likely add a wind turbine and a geo-thermal pond, she said.
“We hope to go into different types of green energy and use them on campus, as well as build a curriculum around them,” she added.
