The new Wingate Hall on campus. Nick Weems | Criterion
by Tyler Fransen
CMU and its various construction projects have been expanding the campus westward. While the opportunity for growth and expansion is certainly exciting, it is not without its flaws.
“The house right next to me is in the process of being torn down to build a parking lot,” local Grand Junction resident Garrett Gregory said. “[There’s] a lot of dust, a lot of people going in and out […] and that part does directly affect me because I’m literally right next to it.”
Derek Wagner, CMU’s Vice President of Intergovernmental & Community Affairs is working closely with community members to resolve potential issues.
“Communication is the key,” Wagner said. “We have regular neighborhood meetings where we send out invitations to everybody in the neighborhood and ask them to come, make sure that they have a good handle on what projects are upcoming, what are the schedules for those projects, and get their feedback on ways to mitigate access issues, noise issues, all that kind of stuff.”
The latest meeting was held in early August. However, Gregory, a resident of Grand Junction for 14 years says that he was unaware of the meetings and has not heard much from CMU regarding the construction.
“About three weeks ago my dad got a notice in his mail that they were going to tear down the house [next door] and that was the first I’d ever heard of it,” Gregory said. “So far nobody has reached out to me and said anything about this.”
For concerned residents surrounding campus, Wagner says that there are regular newsletters given out to those who attend the neighborhood meetings.
“The people that come to our neighborhood meeting they sign in and give us their name, address, email address, phone number, we collect those and make sure we’re communicating with them regularly about things that are happening that might impact them,” Wagner said.
There is also a place for residents to go if they cannot make those meetings.
“CMU facilities services landing page is a good place to go look for […] our campus expansion plan, so if you go to [http://www.coloradomesa.edu] and google facilities services you’ll find it,” Wagner said.
As for projects on campus, Vice President of Finance & Administration Laura Glatt says there are a lot of other projects
underway at the moment such as a new building for the Engineering program.
“We will be breaking ground on Sept. 6. That will be about an 18 month project,” Glatt said. Glatt later added that the new engineering building has a very aggressive construction schedule, and hopes to be moved in by winter break of 2017. Another project Glatt mentioned was the construction of the new health sciences complex on Orchard ave.
“That will get completed in phases, the first phase will be the completion of the administrative offices [and] faculty offices,” Glatt said. “They’ll probably be moving into that complex over Christmas break of this year.” The rest of the construction to the new health and sciences complex should be completed by next fall.
For more detailed information on the campus expansion, visit coloradomesa.edu/facilities/ planning.html.
