Washington State University
2007-2009 Capital Budget Request
Infrastructure for Life:
Prioritized Capital
Plan Emphasizing Life Sciences & Life Cycles
Washington State
University proposes capital projects that complete the Pullman Life Sciences
Building, extend the life of existing older structures, protect the lives of
students and employees, and provide the vital infrastructure that is the
lifeline to serving the state as a premier research university.
The 2007-2009 WSU
capital budget priority list contains no surprises and virtually no deviations
from what are regarded to be state and university priorities. Among the
highlights:
·
WSU’s
largest and top capital construction project, the $58 million for the Life
Sciences Building, seeks to complete construction that the governor and the
Legislature initiated in 2006. It is the number one construction priority of the
Public Baccalaureate Prioritized Capital List.
·
WSU’s
$38.9 million minor works preservation project and $17 million minor works
program is in the top tier of the Public Baccalaureate Prioritized List, ahead
of all major construction projects.
Minor works program money extends the
life of existing facilities and infrastructure, and allows older facilities to
be retrofitted for cutting-edge research and education. Likewise, preservation
money extends the life of buildings by replacement or repair of elevators,
roofs, fire alarms, HVAC, pumps, masonry, windows, flooring, painting, and
building network cabling and electronics. The request includes health, safety
and code projects needed to protect the lives of students, faculty, staff and
visitors and to comply with occupational/public health, and environmental
regulations.
·
The Pullman Campus is
experiencing a critical shortfall in electrical capacity and a deficit of
chilled water production that is solved by WSU’s $11.5 million utilities extension.
This package is ranked
as the fourth project overall by the six public baccalaureate institutions.
·
Extended service life and greater capacity to underground utility lines is
provided by the $15 million Library Road Project. It is the seventh ranked
project overall by the institutions.
The corridor project also includes accessibility and safety improvements for
enhanced pedestrian movement and decreased vehicular traffic.
·
Expanded access for Vancouver freshmen and sophomores. Additional requests for
university-wide infrastructure, intermediate preservation, and a WSU Vancouver
classroom building all rank among the top 26 projects recommended by the
institutions.
Construction of the $24.4 million WSU Vancouver
building will be necessary to provide general classrooms and computer laboratory
spaces for delivery of lower division programs and to accommodate enrollment
growth. The building is WSU’s second highest priority for new building
construction.
·
Some items on
the WSU priority list propose to design projects that would be built in a later
biennium. The top design priority for WSU is Biomedical Sciences.
The
building will replace crowded, outdated biomedical space with a appropriate
facility for targeted programs including neuroscience, pharmacology, cancer
research and toxicology.
·
Renovation and
completion of several existing buildings are slated for the ensuing biennium
including finishing a Prosser laboratory building for enology. Other
projects include renovating core campus buildings for academic purposes.
WSU Supports
the Baccalaureate List
Washington State
University fully supports the Public Baccalaureate Prioritized Capital Project
List. In response to the 2003 Legislature’s enactment of Engrossed Substitute
House Bill (ESHB) 2151, the Washington State public four-year institutions, in
consultation with the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) and the Council
of Presidents, have prepared a single prioritized capital project list for the
2007-09 biennium.
The four-year
institutions, with assistance from the Council of Presidents, and in
consultation with the HECB, met in a series of intensive meetings in a
collaborative negotiated process to develop the Public Baccalaureate Prioritized
Capital Project List. This single prioritized list, which reflects the broad
public interest as well as the interests and priorities of the individual
institutions, has been approved by all six of the Boards of Regents and Trustees
of the respective institutions, including:
Central Washington University Washington State University
Eastern Washington University Western Washington University
The
Evergreen State College University of Washington
The WSU Strategic Plan
The 2007– 2009 biennial
capital request is driven by the WSU strategic plan. The strategic plan commits
the university to offer the best undergraduate experience at a research
university and to provide a world-class environment for research, scholarship,
graduate education and the arts. Achieving these goals requires modern
specialized instructional and research facilities and the related infrastructure
support. The capital budget request is a balance between preservation and
capacity expansion, between main campus and other campus projects, and between
research and instruction. It focuses on providing space that will support
world-class programs in the life sciences and education throughout the
University system.
