NSCC expansion project waiting on governor’s approval

LYNN – North Shore Community College President Wayne Burton has a dream to turn Lynn into a city of education and he believes it is getting closer to reality.”We met with Carole Cornelison, the commissioner of the Division of Capital Management (DCAM), and she was very supportive,” said Burton. “I think our project is well positioned.”A $28 million plan to renovate and add onto NSCC’s Lynn campus is complete, and a $21.5 million bond to help get the project started has been authorized, but Gov. Deval Patrick has yet to put it on his list of approved projects, Burton said. Once Patrick shifts the project to his list, the funding can be appropriated. When Patrick will shift it is unclear. Burton said Patrick will likely decide the fiscal year 2014 projects by the end of August or early September.A worst-case scenario is that the project is left authorized but idling and NSCC will have to wait another year.”The problem is we’re competing with other compelling projects,” he said.In late June Burton went into Boston to meet with DCAM and make a pitch to get the expansion project funded. He said due to the delegation’s strong support he thinks the project will receive a high, if not the highest, priority.”I’m confident we couldn’t have possibly made a better presentation than we did,” he said.How DCAM will ultimately decide is anyone’s guess largely because there are others making equally heartfelt pitches “and they have to figure out the most compelling cases,” he said.”But I think we have a decent shot and it would be a great boost in the arm for Lynn,” he added.Burton, who is scheduled to retire July 31, said anyone walking through NSCC while classes are in session would likely see students sitting in hallways because classrooms are overcrowded. The Lynn campus hasn’t been touched since the 1980s and needs roughly $6 million just to bring it up to code, he added. As a public building the campus isn’t required to meet quite the same building codes as other properties but Burton said he believes it should. Tight budgets, however, have led to building maintenance neglect not just at NSCC but with community colleges across the commonwealth, he said.NSCC has enjoyed some new construction on its Beverly and Danvers properties but it was largely to compensate for losing property when Essex Agricultural School merged with North Shore Technical High School.”None of the building did anything to expand or add to capacity but the Lynn expansion will add capacity,” he said.Another reason he’d really like to see the expansion come to fruition is so NSCC can work closer with Salem State University and bring more of its programs to the Lynn campus, Burton said.”To give Lynn residents access to Salem State classes locally is really important, and we’re working on it but we just don’t have the space,” he said.Working closer with Salem State would feed into Burton’s dream to make Lynn an education zone.”I want to swing down the Lynnway and see a new building with lots of glass light up the area,” he said. “I’m hoping in my dotage that will happen ? I think we have a decent shot.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].