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° 5 193'Special Issue

 

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May 26, 1994

 

 

The Douglas College Newsletter

 

 

Task Force
report

Editor’s note

A number of newsworthy events ocurred at the end of April after our regular issue of
INside had gone to the printshop. We thought it would be worthwhile to provide this
special mid-month issue of the newsletter. As always, we welcome your comments.

 

 

 

PINETREE CAMPUS UPDATE

After three months of intense negotiations
and planning it’s full speed ahead for
‘development of the new Douglas College
campus on Pinetree Way near the
Coquitlam Town Centre.

oe. systems are go," said Jim Doerr,
ean of Community Programs and
Services.

The College has an overall budget of $35
million to plan, build, and equip the new
campus. Phase one will open in the Fall. of
1996 with 750 FTE (Full Time
Equivalent) students and will
accommodate a total of 2,000 FTE at full
capacity. Construction is expected to
begin early next Spring.

 

,

"All systems are go,'
said Jim Doerr

 

Doerr said that the College has been
following three tracks of development
since January. These include political
activities and negotiations with the City of
Coquitlam from which the College
purchased the land, College planning for

. the new campus, and the development of

rtnership Agreements.

Political Activities

The design of the College/Community
Centre/Secondary School complex
required the financial commitment of all
three partners -- the College, the City of
Coquitlam, and School District 43 --
before substantial architectural decisions
about partnership components could be
made.

"Negotiation of the partnership
arrangements has been slow because the
Ministry of Education could not give
funding assurance to School District 43,"
Jim Doerr said. On April 29 a significant
hurdle was overcome when the Ministry
announced the release of money for
planning of the Plateau Secondary School,
to be built north of the College on the
Pinetree Way site.

The original land purchase agreement
between the College and the City of
Coquitlam required the College to build
on the site within three years. In February,
matters became complicated when the
College was unable to meet this date due
to delays in partnership planning.
However, with the support of three area

‘MLAs and the College’s Ministry

officials, an extension of the agreement
has now been signed with the City.

"We'll be pouring concrete by March
°95," Doerr said.

College Planning

Since the beginning of the year, the
College Construction Committee, the
architects and planners have been busy
planning and revising the campus design
following consultation from User
Representatives from all parts of the
College. On May 5, User Representatives
met to review the preliminary design.

"At the meeting it became clear that space
planners and architects have been listening
carefully to input from throughout the
College," Doerr said. "The consultation is
paying off -- people seem happy and
comments were positive that the design
for the new campus is excellent."

Optimum design for health and safety has
been one of the goals of the architects.
Other aspects of the design, such as
location of elevators, have been altered
following user input.

The initial value analysis -- which
involved estimating the cost of the project
based on the preliminary design --
indicates that the construction planned is
within budget.

"The preliminary design now will meet
our space program as developed by the
various user groups, the Ministry’s size
requirements and the budget to this stage,"
Doerr said. The next step is the creation of
working drawings or "blueprints."

Partnership Development

The plans for the Pinetree Way complex
include the main College building, a Field
House/Community Centre including

Pinetree continued on next page

highlights
need for
restructuring

The pressure points in Douglas College’s
make-up have been clearly identified by
the Task Force on Organizational
Structure in its Final Report to the
President delivered last week, says
Douglas College President Bill Day. The
report includes identification of
short-range and long-range issues,
principles of organizational structure, and
recommendations for organizational
decisions. Most of the report’s
recommendations will be accepted for
action, says Day.

"The report makes clear where the
pressure points are. The Task Force was
requested to surface the issues of
management and organization in a way
that would permit evolutionary change,
and to do it without frightening people. I
think they’ ve done that."

Non-traditional forms of education,
infrastructure to support summer campus
operations, procedures for identifying and
meeting student needs, and training and
support for faculty are touched upon
among the twenty recommendations were
tabled by the Task Force. Struck in
December 1993, the Task Force gathered
information through existing College
committees, an open forum, and by
solicitations from people and departments
throughout the College.

Some initiatives involve development of
cross-college structures to deal with
change, although Day notes that those
structures can lead to a paradox: people
want more prompt and localized
decision-making, but cross-College
groupings lend themselves to top-heavy
administration and coordination.

Recommendations accepted for action will
be presented to the College Board as
commitments by the President. Each one
will be assigned to an individual on the
Management Committee who will carry
out the commitment. Short-term issues can
be dealt with in weeks or months, while
longer-term recommendations may take
several years to implement.

_ Task Force continued on next page