FLC OKs $9.5M for energy plan
Campus renovations projected to cut consumption by 33%
The Fort Lewis College Board of Trustees on Friday approved a $9.5 million energy-savings project that will replace aging infrastructure across campus.
The project includes the replacement of boilers that have been operating long past their recommended service life, upgrades to lighting, water conservation measures, the installation of insulation in campus dormitories and heating and cooling improvements.
The total renovations will cut the campus’ total energy consumption by one-third and reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions by 26 percent, according to a report produced by Wayne Kjonaas, the director of physical plant services at the college. They also will save the college about $380,000 a year in energy costs.
Most college campuses in the state have initiated similar energy efficiency measures, also called performance contracting, said Steve Schwartz, the college’s vice president of business and finance. The process is established and supported through the Governor’s Energy Office.
The college will pay for $3 million of the project out of its own funds and finance the rest, Schwartz said. The annual energy savings will be used to pay back the $6.5 million the college will have to borrow, he said.
The renovations are expected to begin this spring and last into early 2013.
In light of news about Durango becoming the starting line for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge next August, the college may have to shift the renovation schedule a bit, FLC President Dene Thomas said. The college needs to be looking its best in the days close to the race because it plans to be an Olympic village of sorts for the cyclists. Part of the race will likely wind around campus, said Mitch Davis, the college’s spokesman.
Though it didn’t reach Friday’s agenda, in subcommittee meetings on Thursday, the board of trustees considered a request from Animas High School to join in a partnership that would help the school find or build a new home, most likely on the college’s campus.
The school has 181 students in ninth through 11th grades and is expecting up to 285 as it adds another class next year, said Michael Ackerman, head of school at Animas. The school has maxed out the capacity of its current building, a former strip mall on the corner of 32nd Street and Main Avenue, and will need to find a new home next year, Ackerman said.
The school proposed three options that ranged from Fort Lewis building a new facility for the school and renting it to Animas to selling campus property to the high school so it could build its own facility.
The hope was to leverage Fort Lewis College’s ability as a state entity to borrow and build, Ackerman said.
But several trustees expressed concern about the risks involved with the proposed collaboration, which include the college being left liable if Animas High School was ever unable to repay its debt on land or a building.
“With a school that has a three-year track record, albeit phenomenal, we can’t gauge a long-term 50-year agreement,” said Trustee Matthew Wassam. There also was a question about whether the move would seem fair to other schools in the area.
The trustees decided not to move ahead with any action, but indicated the topic would be one they would like to keep on the table as a future possibility.
“There are too many unanswered questions,” Trustee Leonel Silva said. “I think it’s a very interesting concept. When we do goal-setting, let’s talk about it then and go from there.”
