Marine Skills Center gets $1 Million Boost from College
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Skagit Valley College’s $1 million contribution to the Northwest Career and Technical Academy will be a boost for the marine skills center planned for Anacortes. “It enables us to just do a better job primarily,” said project manager Bryan Young. “We have certain educational goals and the million bucks will help us to reach those goals.”
Anacortes won’t get all the money. The $1 million will be shared with a larger facility in Mount Vernon for culinary, veterinary and financial training. But Young said he expects the skills center here, which currently has $6.6 million allotted to it from the state, will get most of the money. The college’s board of trustees approved the funds at its Oct. 21 meeting. Part of which will come from the sale of the college’s marine maintenance technology facility in Oak Harbor.
The original design of the satellite campus going in just south of the Cap Sante Boat Haven came within budget and met the program requirements. “But we really believed it was the minimum,” Young said. “And we told that to the college. We said if you can help us out here, we can go back and do a better job.”
The tech center’s current design has offices, an assembly room and conference area that can be used by the public at the east end of the main building. At the same time, the mechanical, composite and systems labs on the west side can be closed off from public use.
The earliest schematic designs were based on a future enrollment of 24 students per lab. The design now accommodates 18 students per lab as suggested by the study presented to the Legislature on the need for a skills center. However, the labs are also designed so the west wall of each can be pushed out for future expansion.
“What the board wants to do is test our programs for a couple years and see what the student interest is and let that drive expansion,” Young said. “Then we’ll go for more funding ... and expand the school based on enrollment.”
The rest of the campus is designed with parking, walkways and an outdoor work area that will be blocked from public view by the main building to the east, a storage building to the west and landscaping to the south and north. A vacant area in the middle will allow for additional future expansion, while the property to the north is reserved for commercial marine development by the Port of Anacortes. The port owns the entire 6-acre parcel and will lease the south end to the Academy.
Young pointed out that the college’s money will not be used unless it’s needed. If there is enough contingency money and if bids come in lower than expected, the board may find it doesn’t need all the money, Young said. “That just gives everybody a little more flexibility,” he said. “And it allows the design team to design to a more realistic dollar amount, so it’s a really good thing.”
The board will be asked to approve the final schematic design at its next meeting noon to 2 p.m. Nov. 12 at Mount Vernon School District offices. If it does, the permitting process with the city can begin.
Both academy sites are scheduled to open September 2010.
Joan Pringle, Anacortes American
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