DMACC moves ahead with new facilities planning for dental, diesel programs • Iowa Capital Dispatch

Seeping groundwater. Cracked and bowing walls. Outdated equipment and facilities never meant to be utilized for so long. Des Moines Area Community College Board of Trustees members saw these first-hand Monday while touring buildings on the Ankeny campus slated for possible renovation or demolition under the college’s new facilities master plan.

During its meeting, the board discussed two capital projects slated as priorities within the facilities master plan. The projects encompass programs in need of larger, more modern spaces.

DMACC President Rob Denson said in an interview that the college hasn’t focused on these buildings for renovations or demolition before now because there have been other needs across campus and a limited amount of money. The faculty and staff have done a lot to keep the buildings suitable for use up until now, he said.

“We want to get every ounce of life out of every facility we’ve got, and we pretty much don’t move on a new facility and tear something down until we’re at the end of life,” Denson said.

Dental programs to find new home

The community college’s dental assistant and hygiene programs were in danger of losing their accreditation last fall due to concerns with program facilities and other areas. The programs received full accreditation in February with the contingency of building a new, up-to-code space. That clinic has been included in the facilities master plan with an area on campus already picked out and the college moving ahead with finding a firm to act as construction manager and contractors.

DMACC Vice President of Operations Bill LaTour said in the meeting that the board should have the chance to approve a recommended construction manager at its October meeting, after which staff can get started on design, development and collecting all the necessary construction documentation. The plan’s timeline has construction starting in September 2025 and finishing in summer 2027, with an estimated total cost of $17 million.

Jeanie McCarville-Kerber, dean of Health & Public Services at DMACC, said the college will need to let the accreditor, the Commission on Dental Accreditation, know that the new facilities will be finished anywhere from six to nine months after the date stated in previous communication, but she hopes there won’t be any issues.

The new 24,000-square-foot clinic will take the place of tennis, basketball and sand volleyball courts located on the Ankeny campus. It has existing parking and better traffic flow for the patients who receive care in the program, Denson said.

As some of the equipment currently utilized by the dental programs is outdated or cannot be moved, such as sterilization equipment purchased to keep the current location in compliance, some items will need to be purchased for the new facility.

“Some of the curricular materials and things that we purchased just to keep this location running will come over with us,” McCarville-Kerber said.

The building currently housing the dental programs would not be demolished, Denson said, as it is used by other programs and is in “pretty good shape.”

A new building for diesel, building trades

Planning is set to begin on a new trades building as well, which would house the college’s diesel programs; fire science; heating, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC) training and building trades, among other areas of study. LaTour said the hope is to fast-track the process to construction, which would look similar to the dental building, in order to have them both going at the same time.

The project is estimated to cost $34 million and would be 55,000 square feet, replacing the current, 31,000 square-foot building.

Money for the projects could come from the college’s plant fund, but donations or other sources could contribute to the dental building, Denson said.

Board Chair Joe Pugel asked that the possibility of postponing the new diesel trades building be explored from a cost perspective, in order to see if it would save money in the long run to keep the current facilities working for one to two additional years before starting on a new building.

Jenny Foster, executive academic dean of building trades, transportation/engineering and manufacturing, said the diesel programs are “living on borrowed time” in their current home.

“Is the building functional? Yes. Can students take classes there? Yes,” Foster said. “But at any moment, something could happen, and then we’re in a lot of trouble.”

LaTour said in an interview the buildings proposed for demolition, built between 1969 and 1970, were not intended to last 50 years. During the tour of building 14, the oldest on campus, Foster and Joe Baxter, physical plant and construction services director, pointed out areas in the buildings where cracks had formed on the walls and where water would seep up from the ground, creating times where students and faculty would have to walk through water in the halls.

It lacks a sprinkler system, still houses the original electrical system and, despite repair efforts, still leaks heat in the winter, Baxter said. The things that could be repaired or replaced, like the roof and electrical system, would take anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. With certain problem areas, such as the outdated bathrooms, he said if you update one thing, you need to commit to updating all of it.

Programs housed in the building are also running out of room, with engines and equipment sitting out in the hallway due to lack of space.

In buildings 15-20, which make up a connected semi-circle of classrooms, offices and labs, programs have grown to take up empty rooms left behind by others that moved into new facilities. Baxter said they “truly were built as temporary buildings,” and have bowing walls, issues with standing water and a permanent blockage in one of the sewer lines.

With programs needing more space and buildings far past their prime, Baxter said they’re at a point where decisions need to be made on whether to fix what they can to keep the buildings alive a bit longer or do something more drastic.

“I think we’re kind of on the threshold,” Baxter said. “We can get by for another one to three years, and then at that point in time, three years out, then you’re replacing the roof. So we’re kind of at the end here of, ‘Okay, do we start investing money in this? Or do we start over?’”