Gateway Technical College presents three-year facilities plan and aims to be carbon neutral by 2030 | Local News

The projects were part of a three-year facilities plan across all district-owned facilities, presented at a Gateway District Council meeting on Thursday.

Major projects include more learning space to accommodate the advanced manufacturing program at LakeView Technology Academy in Kenosha, an energy-efficient project called Solar Array on the Elkhorn campus, and additional upgrades to the new Lincoln Center for Health Careers. on the Racine campus.

The list of projects carries an estimated price tag of $194.7 million and encompasses 838,985 square feet of space across the three main campuses. Additional upgrades are also planned at leased ancillary locations, such as the HERO Center in Burlington.

The bulk of the work on the massive Lincoln Center project has already been completed. The health center renovation upgraded nearly 18,000 square feet of space and added approximately 4,000 square feet to the building erected in 1963. The project cost $7.1 million, including more than a million dollars for nursing equipment.

The top-to-bottom renovation project took more than two school years and prompted Gateway to borrow up to an above-normal $10 million to complete the work.

“We are now returning to our normal borrowing limits, which are approximately $8 million per year,” said Tom Cousino, assistant vice president of facilities and security. “This is a standard you will see for the three years of the strategic plan.”

Cousino provided Gateway District Council with a high-level overview of the preliminary list of projects being considered for facility upgrades.

In his presentation, Cousino also touched on Gateway’s various sustainability efforts — some more visible than others — with a target goal of being carbon neutral in eight years.

“We have great sustainability efforts throughout the district,” Cousino said. “We have very unique goals that we hope to accomplish by 2030.”

The $1.2 million Solar Array project planned for the Elkhorn campus in the 2023-2024 school year has been cited as a way to achieve the goal. The initiative involves installing a ground-mounted solar panel on campus for sustainability and energy efficiency.

District officials have also earmarked $50,000 in the 2022-23 school year capital budget to replace wind towers and increase energy efficiency on the Racine campus.

Cousino said the list of projects was compiled after meeting with various consultants specializing in specialist areas such as roofing, flooring and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

“We wanted to make sure we had a path forward not only to meet our future needs, but also our strategic needs for the next three to five years,” he said of the consultant’s contribution. .

The three-year facilities plan – which begins in the next school year and spans the 2024-25 school year – may need to be modified if necessary.

“We always try to consider, as difficult as it is, the supply chain for each of these projects,” Cousino said. “We try to balance rising costs, our different projects and when we try to do it.”

Thursday’s meeting was a first look at the three-year facilities plan. The District Council is expected to vote on the document at its regular June meeting.