USU building project lowered as priority by state Building Board
USU’s request for funding to design a new agricultural building is no longer a high priority for the state Building Board.
After reviewing funding requests from within the state, USU’s request for $3 million to help in the design of new classrooms on campus is now 13th on the state’s Building Board list.
“We are concerned about the drop in priority, but it is still in the early stage of decision making. We are still clinging to hope,” said John Devilbiss, USU spokesman.
Devilbiss said this is USU’s second year in making formal requests for funding for the new agricultural building.
“The Ag Building has not had major renovations since its construction in 1953; we are in need of a new building,” Devilbiss said. “We’ve gone through this before with other buildings, but considering it was constructed in 1953, this is long overdue.”
The prospect of receiving funding for the design and planning of a new building was first reviewed by the state Board of Regents.
It then went before the Higher Education Capital Development and Land Acquisition Priorities committee, where it was ranked as its second priority, said Mark Spencer, associate commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education.
USU’s project was then proposed to the state Building Board in October, where its place in line for funding and construction was lowered.
The Building Board’s list will be presented to Governor Jon Huntsman in November.
The potential funding projects will then be reviewed by State Legislators in the next legislative session, where Spencer said legislators will make an independent decision regarding funding and construction. Spencer said they look at each project individually and then determine what will be done.
“They see the list as advice, but they make the final decision on which building to fund and how many to fund. We will make a presentation and we hope to be able to make a case supporting our ranking,” Spencer said.
A building project for Weber State University was also lowered in rank by the Building Board in comparison with its placing by the Higher Education Capital Development and Land Acquisition Priorities committee.
According to a report in the Ogden Standard-Examiner, Weber requested $22.65 million to construct two new buildings. Their project was the first priority for state education officials, but was then ranked number four by the Building Board.
“We were disappointed when they changed our rank. We hope our ranking will hold up when they get to the legislative committee,” Spencer said. “We certainly understand that the Building Board has a little bit different process. The board uses their own judgment and criteria.”
The top three priorities of the Building Board, as reported in the Standard-Examiner, are a state health lab and a driver’s license/DMV office near Salt Lake City, the third being the construction of a new building for the diesel and composite program at the Davis Applied Technology College.
-ariek@cc.usu.edu