Technical education site to be chosen soon

COEUR d'ALENE - A school facilities planning expert told North Idaho College trustees Tuesday that the best sites for a new, larger technical education facility are on the Coeur d'Alene campus or in Post Falls.

Dave Teater, whom the trustees hired in January to prepare a recommendation for a new building, presented his findings to the trustees during a workshop on where to expand the college's professional technical education, or career technical education, facilities.

Teater presented several site options that were studied with NIC's administration.

"Our costs are based on building size and the function of the site," Teater said.

The most viable options, according to Teater, include building out the facility in the old Jacklin Seed complex adjacent to NIC's Riverbend facility, in the parking lot behind NIC's Molstead Library on campus, or on the old mill site now owned by NIC.

He also reviewed building on the KTEC campus in Rathdrum, and several other locations on the NIC campus.

Teater presented a capacity and enrollment study, based on information provided by NIC's administration. Enrollment and capacity are currently at the same level; the college has room for 206 students and 206 students are enrolled.

Within 10 years, he projects that enrollment will be at least 336, and the proposed facility will allow up to 600 students, if it's used for night classes in addition to daytime classes.

The cost is expected to be about $31 million for 160,000 square-feet.

Bond financing would be used, but property taxes would not go up because trustees would use a tax revenue stream that has been in place since 2008. The trustees on the board at that time, including current trustees Judy Meyer and Christie Wood, elected to exercise foregone taxing authority of $2.4 million per year to pay for the purchase of the DeArmond Mill site adjacent to the college.

Some of the trustees were concerned about the proposed cost of the project, stating it was too high for too few students.

They asked Teater to look for ways to reduce the cost.

Ron Nilson said he didn't think the KTEC property was being given fair consideration because the costs presented did not allow for about $500,000 in reductions, largely for hook-ups and site approvals that the city of Rathdrum has already agreed to, should the building go there.

Discussions about North Idaho College's need for more room for its manufacturing, diesel and automotive technology, and construction trades programs have been taking place for years. At least nine studies have been commissioned on the topic.

The trustees committed to making a final decision on the site and the cost of the new facility when they meet on June 23.