More room in Breck to expand, but low funds to do so
This article was originally printed in the Summit Daily News. By Kathyrn Corazzelli.
Colorado Mountain College is expanding in Dillon with the recent purchase of the Coldwell Bank building, adjacent to the college’s existing classroom building there.The new space will hold meeting rooms, classrooms, some employee offices, the Small Business Development Center and 30 additional parking spots for students, visitors and employees. It was purchased for $675,000.The building will be most likely be ready for use in April, according to Alton Scales, CMC’s Summit County CEO.
“There is viability in Dillon, and just recently, we expanded the Dillon location,” Scales said.
Last year, the college enclosed what used to be a drive-up at the one-time bank to create more classroom space. The improvement did take up more parking space, so the newly purchased building and its lot will come in handy.
Right now, there are no further firm plans for the Dillon location.
“Our ability to plan beyond that was totally contingent on our ability to acquire that piece,” Scales said of the Coldwell Bank acquisition.
As far as the Breckenridge campus goes, “we always have plans, and some of those plans are totally contingent on things that are outside our control,” Scales said.
One example is what the property tax mill levy generates for CMC. Right now, property value is down, and so is the amount the college receives.
“So the options that we’ve had in the past don’t exist,” Scales said.
If the funds for the Dillon location hadn’t just been spent, they would have been absorbed for the current fiscal year.
“The timing is uncanny,” Scales said. “We wouldn’t have been able to obtain that goal within any reasonable time frame.”
More space
The Dillon location measures less than 1 acre, while the Breckenridge campus spans almost 20, so if a residence hall were to ever be built, realistically, it would be in Breckenridge, Scales said.
There are more classes held at the Breckenridge campus, but that’s also a space issue. In the spring class schedule, there were 81 classes held at Dillon and 191 in Breckenridge. The 191 include quite a few classes that can only be offered at the location because of increased facilities, according to CMC spokeswoman Debra Crawford. Fifty-four of those courses were culinary workshops or classes; Dillon does not have a kitchen to do so.
Based on the number of students and the credit hours they take, enrollment in Dillon is about 60 percent of that in Breckenridge. That ratio changed very little between this fall semester and the 2010-11 year as a whole, Crawford said.