As part of its Vision 2030-plus initiative, Odessa College is exploring the possibility of a pedestrian bridge.
It would go from the south campus to the north campus, Vice President of Administrative Services Ken Zartner said. The project is still in the planning stages.
“We’ve expanded a lot of our operations north. Ten straight years of record enrollment show that we are bursting at the seams everywhere. We don’t have a lot of ability to grow east or west because of the major highways. When you look at Andrews Highway and then you look at Kermit and those other sites, our growth is is is kind of limited on what we do,” Zartner said.
If the project moves forward and it’s feasible and affordable, it would only take about four to six months because the span would be manufactured off-site and installed on a slow traffic day.
The board approved an American Institute of Architects agreement for the bridge.
“Basically an AIA agreement is an agreement that outlines the scope, the work and the cost of a job,” Zartner said.
He added that OC is partnering with JSA Architects on the Vision 2030-plus projects.
“The reason you want those agreements in the beginning is because if you don’t, you’re paying an hourly rate, or a per project rate so you want to understand what your dollar amount is going into a project,” Zartner said.
Completion of the Wood Health Sciences Building will further compress parking opportunities on campus. At the current Health Sciences Building near the Sports Center, there can be 200 cars in the lot at any given point of the day.
When the new Wood Health Sciences Building opens, there not going to have anywhere for employees to park.
“We’re gonna have to park across the street for one. As we continue to expand operations across the street, as we continue to move back and forth across the street. we need to create a safe way for employees, students, community members, visitors to transition,” Zartner said.
“That traffic light that we have in front of our campus has been a great element of safety. But it still comes with risks. And when you’re having several hundred of people walking back and forth daily, you need some sort of safe gateway for them to cross. That’s really the simple answer behind it,” he added.
Since they have 200 cars in front of the current HSB building, he’s expecting 300 cars during the day in front of the new HSB.
“We just don’t have the parking lot infrastructure to support that plus employees, especially during peak times,” Zartner said.
He added that the lot near the new health sciences building is where students from Odessa Collegiate Academy and Odessa Career & Technical Early College High School (OCTECHS) usually park.
“It’s a mix of parking needs. It’s a mix of expansion needs; and it’s a mix of growth for Odessa College,” Zartner said.
The pedestrian bridge will be open air, but there will be safety rails and on ramps to the bridge will be closed outside of college operating hours.
“Our design structure can still be modified and changed as we explore things,” he said.
Zartner added that there are still several things to work out such as the bridge height.
“To be honest … we don’t even know if it’s possible to have this project. We’re still trying to explore that. We actually have a meeting today (Oct. 26) with the city and other project planners to start talking through some things …,” Zartner said.
He added that they will continue to come back to the OC Board of Trustees with progress reports.
“It’s just part of our growth. That’s one of the benefits of growing to 8,000-plus students two years in a row. We will be at 10,000 before you know it. Then we’ll be at 15,000,” he said.
At Tuesday night’s board meeting, Zartner also updated the board on the health science building progress. He said the rains were good, but they slowed the project down a little bit.
“We have a few things that we are working on, but we’re still on pace to have the project completed within the timeframe that we first said,” Zartner said.
It is expected to be completed around spring 2024.
The board also approved using Medical Center Health System Contracts for purchasing items for the Health Sciences Building.
A lot of OC’s vendors are on cooperatives that offer competitive prices and quality products. A lot of entities use similar purchasing methods.
Zartner said they have huge contracts that can help OC purchase things like medical beds for the new building.
“So we want to partner on their buy board contracts to allow the best, most competitive pricing for our facility. We want top grade products … We want that facility to look like Medical Center, to feel like Medical Center and we want to get Medical Center pricing, as well when we’re purchasing these products and these beds … ,” Zartner said.
OC has similar arrangements to purchase everything from computers to furniture. There are some sole source items that they can’t get anywhere else, but they still make sure there are no other competitors in the market to ensure they are responsible with taxpayer dollars, he said.
The James Segrest track is still on pace to open in spring 2024.
Zartner said bids close Thursday (Oct. 27).
“That’s a big day for us. Then the architects, JSA, will evaluate those bids and we will hopefully select a general contractor within the next several weeks. We may even potentially have a special board meeting just to approve that general contractor …,” Zartner said.
“… We anticipate, I won’t know until I see those bids, anticipate that to be about a 12, 13 month project. Let’s say we had the bidder approved in November and they kick off in December, it’s spring 2024 for completion of that track, as well,” Zartner said.
The Downtown Project completion date is April 7, but Zartner said it is ahead of schedule so it might be a little earlier.
Zartner added that they are building a construction school in part of Sedate Hall that used to be a machine shop.
“We’re still remodeling,” he said. “We’re not quite done yet, but we’ve cleared out the machine shop area. We’re putting in different things to house an array of construction programs.”
They may build everything from tiny houses to HVAC and plumbing and framing — “all the different trades to support our region and our community. That should be done within the next couple of months, as well.”
Asked if there was enough room for everything, Zartner said there isn’t.
“One of the cool things that I’ve seen in other places is they use outside to their advantage. … We have this big double-bay door system out there. We open that up. I’m going to fence that … and put some cool graphics to show it’s a construction school so people can build outside. … We’re so limited on space … that’s why we’re building four stories here, or trying to explore places we didn’t think we could fit something in before,” Zartner said.
