While plans to build a new activity center at Allen Community College are in the initial stages, trustees were given a brief glance of what the planning committee is considering during Tuesday nights board of trustees meeting.
Brian Counsil, vice president of finance and operations, summarized a July 24 meeting between Lloyd Builders of Ottawa and the DLR Group of Omaha, who are bidding for the job. Also on hand were Jon Wells, Iola mayor, Sid Fleming, city administrator, and Corey Schinstock, assistant city administrator, as well as ACC administrators and staff.
Still up in the air is what all will be included in the facility, including whether a 200-meter or 300-meter regulation indoor track is preferable.
Some of the questions we have is what can we fit in a 200-meter track and what can we fit in a 300-meter track? How tall will the building be? said Counsil. The buildings they presented dont really pertain to us, but they do give us an idea of what we are looking at.
The two firms presented examples of their projects, including indoor athletic facilities used at the University of Kansas, Texas Tech and Washburn University.
Washburn officials approved their $20.6 million facility back in February.
That facility features a six-lane, 200-meter track, a 110-yard synthetic turf practice field that is 50 yards wide used by football, womens soccer, baseball and softball teams. It also has areas for field events along with permanent and portable bleachers. It is designed to be 146,315 square feet.
If ACC chooses to build, they plan on a 125,000-130,000 square foot facility.
At the end of Counsils presentation, Masterson said another possibility was adding on to the current activity center. He said they had a group offer plans about five years ago, with the cost running anywhere from $5 to 6 million.
Personally, I have always thought that less can be more, Masterson said.
The building groups both agreed that the best place for the complex would be just north of the entrance. A structure of 125,000 square feet would interfere with the soccer field if it were south of the main entrance.
Aimee Thompson, ACC Director of Development, said the Board of Directors of the Endowment Association approved a campaign goal of $5 million at their July 23 meeting at which $2 million could be directed toward a new activity center.
This will be a full five-year campaign, Thompson said.
The planning committee consists of Counsil, Masterson, Thomson, Cynthia Jacobson, Neal Barclay, Doug Desmarteau, Andy Shaw, Tyler Fredricks, Frankie Chapman, Ryan Bilderback, McKinley Jackson and Rachel Janzen.
BILDERBACK, who serves as Director of Student Life, reported that move-in week activities will begin on Saturday. Students will begin moving in at 10 a.m. One hundred and forty student athletes moved in last weekend. The school has various events planned throughout the week to get new students oriented with the campus and the community.
