Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

February Board Report Highlights Bond Program Activities

Photos and story by Gina Whitehill-Baziuk

Bond Program Update:

OH Architecture/BacGen Technologies, our solar consultant, has been hired to help us assess our District-wide solar potential and how best to utilize our state required “1.5% for Solar” allocation. They have completed their initial district-wide solar potential inventory and summary. This phase of the work has taken into account current and projected buildings, rooftop conditions, several potential ground mount sites, solar access, probable solar production (kWh/y) and probable installation costs.  Over the next month they will integrate with the site design teams and college operations in a more detailed analysis of opportunities, and guiding strategies for the district solar investments.

Technology Solution Service (TSS), has been working on several projects under the bond program and has completed network infrastructure upgrades at both Southeast and Cascade campuses.  The VoIP (new college phone system) rollout is completed at CLIMB, PMWTC, and Southeast. Upgrades to support the VoIP system have started at Cascade. TSS standards are under review and expected to be completed in February. Research, analysis, evaluation, and meetings continue with Public Safety, Registration, TSS, and HR to develop criteria for expanding ID cards and access control.

In February the bond team will be putting out two surveys to students, staff, and faculty to obtain information in multiple areas:  food service, classroom environment and technology, wayfinding, workspace environment, student services, campus safety, district wide technology, and childcare. The survey results will inform the need for focus groups in specific areas to foster more in-depth conversations. Gathering of information from the surveys and focus groups will better inform the needs of the college and in turn the way we design and build or renovate our facilities.

Kittelson and Associates, the selected Transportation Demand Management (TDM) consultant, is drafting a final project scope that will include an extensive outreach program.  A TDM Steering Committee will be formed with representatives from the each campus as well as the many College services that have an interest in TDM.  Open Houses at each campus are planned and more. The TDM study project is expected to run to September 2011.

A new module was added to the Bond website called Public Forum. This allows anyone to ask questions or comment about the bond program without the need for the question or comment being linked to a specific story that has been posted.

Campus Updates:

Newberg:

Werth Blvd, the parking lot and building pad have been graded and rocked.  The south parking lot is ready for asphalt.  The concrete footings and stem walls are in place.  Radiant tubing installation is complete and the building’s concrete floor was poured in late January.  Project is currently on schedule to complete Summer 2011.

Rock Creek:

A subgroup of the Bond Internal Steering Committee held an all-day work session to continue analyzing the program and cost for the Bond work.  Four scenarios were developed by Opsis architecture.  Given the feedback from the campus in December and the previous work session, the subgroup selected one of the scenarios for further refinement by the architects.

The Bond Internal Steering Committee (BISC) reviewed the work of the subgroup and continues to work towards monitoring the program and the costs.

Next steps include planning Building 7 with the Learning Spaces group, planning Building 2 with the CTE group and working on water quality improvements and the new access/exit road to 185^th.

Southeast Campus:

The team has been working on setting up various meetings for Winter term. Two workshops with the Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO) will take place in February to discuss how we can build our new buildings more energy efficiently and receive incentives from ETO. Planning is underway for the campus sustainability public open house in conjunction with the Asian New Year celebration in February.

Cascade Campus:

The Bond Advisory Committee went on a tour of the Cascade Campus and its buildings, Saturday, January 8. Many in the group expressed their surprise at the depth of programming offered and the quality of the facilities. It was a good start to the outreach effort at Cascade. Programming work continues as Cascade begins to evaluate the total number of new classrooms needed relative to new faculty and student services space.

Sylvania Campus:

The E6 Dehumidification Unit installation is complete and commissioning of these units is underway.  Remaining E6 work such as paddle fan installation in the gym and filter/rack changes to the Air Handling Units at several buildings is ongoing and will continue through March 2011.

Programming discussions continue on the framework plan for renovations to the SS, ST, and AM buildings. These framework plans will be turned over to Howard S. Wright Constructors to identify the costs for all the projects in the buildings.

Read or download the February 2011 Board Report including Campus Time lines and Financial Updates