Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

April Board Report Highlights Bond Program

Photos and story by Gina Whitehill-Baziuk

Bond Program Update:

To develop the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategy, a project team made up of PCC staff and representatives from the consultant team Kittelson and Associates meets monthly.  Beginning in April a TDM Steering Committee will convene.  This group of 25 has volunteers from the campuses and the district staffs. Committee members will be tasked with disseminating information to each campus or area they represent, address the overall access needs of the College, and ultimately, make TDM recommendations for Cabinet and Board consideration.  The project scope includes numerous meetings on the campuses, as well as meetings with district-level groups and campus open houses. As part of the TDM project the committee will be putting out a survey in April to all students, staff, and faculty to begin gathering information. Developing this strategy is expected to continue through the 2011 calendar year.

The network infrastructure upgrades and the VoIP roll-out are complete at Cascade.  New network equipment has been installed at Rock Creek.  Planning is moving ahead for the Rock Creek and Sylvania VoIP deployment.  We are meeting with the A&E teams, TSS and FMS to determine the next steps.

The ID cards and Access Control committee has developed a proposal for an incremental upgrade to the current systems.  The next steps will be to work on developing an RFP for a vendor to implement the system district wide.

We have received draft raw results from our multi-disciplinary survey. The market research firm is working on synthesizing the results into an easily understandable format with an executive summary that will discuss how the results inform PCC and on what subjects we might form focus groups to gather further information. Sharing of the information will take place in April.

Campus Updates:

Newberg:

The building shell construction is ongoing.  Red iron building frame has been erected and the SIPS (Super insulated panels) installation is nearly complete.  Skylights, roof drains and RTU’s (Roof Top Units) are scheduled to be placed later this month.

Interior metal wall framing will begin later this month including installation of hollow metal door frames on the North side of the building. The south parking lot is ready to receive pavement but is pending proper weather conditions.

Rock Creek:

College representatives met with CP07 (Citizens Participation Organization) in February and March to discuss the Bond work with a focus on the proposed exit road to 185th.

The project design team has met with Cleanwater Services (CWS) to discuss stormwater upgrade requirements for the new projects. A stormwater master plan is recommended by CWS so as work proceeds on the campus over the next several years they have an overall picture of the end product and can assist PCC with planning our stormwater requirements and mitigation required by our development.

Three new groups continued to develop plans for Bond work.  Learning Spaces group has met to discuss potential program elements going into the new addition to Building 7.  The West Zone group began discussing the plant materials for the new access/exit road to 185^th and parking lot improvements for storm water improvements. The Building 2/CTE group has discussed potential scope of work for building renovations.  Opsis Architecture is having the potential projects priced to help determine what will fit the budget.  The Bond Internal Steering Committee (BISC) reviewed the work of the groups and continues to monitor the program and the costs. Three potential programming options for the campus core were presented by Opsis and will be discussed further at future meetings.

Southeast Campus:

Schematic Design review discussions continue with all the campus departments and divisions. This information will be compiled and as part of the CUMP (Conditional Use Master Plan) that will be submitted to the City of Portland as part of the land use process for the campus.

On March 28, 2011, Montavilla Neighborhood Association and neighbors residing to the immediate west of the Southeast Center met with PCC representatives to discuss a number of issues. Though several of the concerns raised by the residents were not the sole responsibility of PCC, as the chief land-owner and business neighbor it is felt that PCC has both the ability and responsibility to assist in their resolution. The evening’s discussion primarily centered on the following issues:

• PCC students smoking in neighborhood
• PCC students parking in neighborhood
• Community petition against City of Portland required improvements to SE 80th Avenue

The bulk of the meeting involved discussions with representatives from the City’s Bureau of Transportation outlining city requirements for improving unimproved roadways. The neighbors bordering SE 80^th Avenue had circulated a petition hoping to circumvent the Title 17 frontage improvement requirement that calls for PCC to pave and improve at least 20 feet of roadway adjacent to its property.  Some of the neighbors expressed concerns over feared increased traffic as the impetus to their petition. After considerable discussion it was apparent that the neighbors would need to seek an appeal and that there might be other resolutions that would both address their concerns and also help provide a safer, lighter, more inviting resolution to this low-volume street. Bond staff along with the architectural and transportation consultants plan to meet with the neighbors in a subsequent Montavilla neighborhood land use workshop scheduled for May 23.

Cascade Campus:

In early March, community stakeholders at the BAC (Bond Advisory Committee) meeting hovered over 3D planning models to explore their ideas for enhancing educational opportunities at Cascade Campus, addressing parking and traffic concerns, revitalizing the Killingsworth commercial corridor and smoothing the edges between the neighborhood and campus.

At the Committee’s seventh meeting, members split into three groups to work hands-on with the 3D models. Community members used the 3D planning models and color coded blocks to identify potential sites for campus improvements, parking and future retail.

With the models, people explored building design, mixes and sites for campus master planning that include the new educational building, new or renovated student center, enhanced open spaces and parking. The model also encouraged participants to think about future retail along Killingsworth Street and Albina Avenue and to incorporate elements that support adopted Guiding Principles that will enhance the environment both in and around the campus. The committee continued its work at its March 31, 2011, meeting hearing and seeing what other campus-based groups have discovered while working with the model and beginning to identify key internal and external elements that should be highlighted as possible future building site plan options begin to evolve for further study.

The Cascade Campus schedule below shows campus master planning completing at the end of 2011. This timeline reflects the same process that the Rock Creek Campus master plan process went through in 2009-2010. By then end of this academic year, June 2011, there will be some options, likely 3-4, that will surface from all the stakeholder engagement activities from both the internal and external communities. The consultants will then spend the summer putting costs to the plans. Fall term 2011 the plan and costs will be taken back to the stakeholders to discuss where we are and look at narrowing down the options to one viable option for the campus. This will all be completed and by December, however, if it is done sooner than that then building designs could begin sometime late fall.

Sylvania Campus:

We’re working with TSS, the Library and the Student Success Center at Sylvania to plan for the Learning Commons transition to the Library.  We’re looking at the number of computers each area is now using and discussing how we can consolidate and better use our resources.  Disbursed technology resources throughout the building, and increased numbers of checkout wireless devices for students, will be a feature of the new Learning Commons.

The design team has concluded its first round of meetings with the building groups, TSS and FMS for the SS, ST and AM buildings to develop building framework plan.  Those plans and narratives have been issued to HSW for pricing and schedule.  The HT and CT are currently meeting to develop similar framework plans.  The CC building is pending finalization of the CRC & SSC potential move into the Library; which will be discussed in greater detail this summer.

A Sylvania Site Committee has also been meeting.  There are several site improvement projects being discussed, including the completion of G Street and storm water modifications to the existing parking lot areas.  HSW is currently pricing these projects and developing schedules for PCC review.

E6 projects currently underway include the installation of paddle fans in the gymnasium and filter/rack changes to the air handling units at several of the buildings.  The next E6 project scheduled to begin later this month is the modification of the HHW (Heating Hot Water) loop which will make the current system more efficient and reduce energy costs to the college.