Planning is underway for the upgrading of two popular exhibits at the Albuquerque Biological Park to be funded by a gross receipts tax passed by city voters in 2015. The work is part of a BioPark Master Plan developed in 2014 and calling for the updating and enhancing of a wide variety of exhibits at the zoo. That plan noted that some 1.5 million visitors come each year to the BioPark’s four facilities, which, besides the zoo, includes an aquarium, botanic garden, and Tingley Beach, and was designed to serve as a blueprint in anticipating the BioPark’s growth in the next two decades. The master plan specifically called for creating up to five times the space for animals at the zoo to roam, as well as more shaded areas for visitors. Since the 2015 election, work has been launched on a new $2.5 million otter exhibit and $12 million penguin exhibit. A $500,000 playground has additionally been completed. Two additional projects in the talking stage include work on the zoo’s Asia exhibit, which will see the building of a multi-level exhibition and animal holding space, and is expected to cost $15 million to complete. Work on the zoo’s Australian exhibit will cost $8 million and will include the upgrading of several existing structures, exhibits, and a holding area. Opened in 1927, the 64-acre zoo become a part of the larger Bio Park in 1996. By Garry Boulard
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Two Colorado legislators, Representatives Cole Wist and Dave Young, are calling for a change in the amount of marijuana sales tax revenue used for school construction.
As currently established, up to $40 million in that revenue goes to the state’s Building Excellent Schools Today program. The BEST program was established in 2008 to provide grants to public schools for replacing, rebuilding, and repairing facilities. Since its founding, BEST has given out $1.7 billion in matching grants to more than 300 individual schools in Colorado. The new legislation is calling for marijuana sales tax revenue to be increased by an additional $39 million for fiscal year 2018-19, and another $43 million for fiscal year 2019-20. A final vote on the legislators’ proposal has not yet been taken. The regular 2018 session of the Colorado State Legislature will wrap up business on May 9. By Garry Boulard Construction will begin later this year on a 22,000 square foot outpatient clinic in central El Paso.
The facility will be owned and operated by the University Medical Center of El Paso and represents the latest project in an expanding metro footprint for the hospital. In 2017, UMC opened a 42,000 square foot clinic on the east side of El Paso at 5121 Joe Battle Boulevard, as well as a 45,000 square foot clinic on the west side at 6600 N. Desert Boulevard. The latest clinic is expected to cost $22 million to build and will go up at 4800 Gateway East Boulevard near Interstate 10. That 3.6-acre site was purchased by UMC for $5.5 million last year and will require the demolition of the four-story Vagabond Inn Motel. Construction of the new clinic is being funded through certificates of obligation earlier approved by the El Paso County Commission. By Garry Boulard Members of the Senate Broadband Caucus want to see increased funding for broadband construction in President Trump’s soon-to-be revealed infrastructure plan.
The bipartisan group, which includes two Democrats, two Republicans, and one Independent, says increased funding for broadband infrastructure would particularly help rural area of the country. “Prioritizing direct funding support for broadband deployment in an infrastructure package will help close the digital divide and ensure our country maintains its global competitiveness,” the caucus said in a statement. According to sources, the Administration’s plan is expected to call for up to $1 trillion in overall infrastructure funding, but how much of that figure would go specifically to broadband construction isn’t known yet. A Federal Communications Commission report issued in 2016 said that some 34 million Americans in mostly rural areas continue to lack access to high-speed internet. By Garry Boulard A new 107-room hotel and restaurant could be going up near the edge of the Poudre River in Fort Collins.
The nearly 102,000 square-foot structure will be three stories tall, with a restaurant space measuring 4,700 square feet. The hotel will be branded as a Staybridge Suites, with the project itself on the 300 block of E. Lincoln Avenue called the Spirit at the River. The project has garnered the opposition of a group called Save the Poudre because, say members of the organization, it will be built too close to the Poudre, which runs in a meandering pattern north to east through Fort Collins. By being built near the river, the project, says its critics, will endanger flood prevention land as well as wildlife habitat. One section of the proposed project in particular, the part housing the restaurant, will be partially within a buffer zone between the 4.4-acre site itself and the river. Developer Spirit Hospitality has said that it plans to use such devices as flush curbs and permeable interlocking concrete pavers to mitigate the impact of the project. The company has also promised to add some 1.5 acres of restored habitat to a portion of the site. Plans have long been in the talking stage in Fort Collins to build a Poudre River corridor that would include both public and commercial space. If approved by the City of Fort Collins, work on the new combined hotel/restaurant project could begin later this spring. By Garry Boulard Work could begin next spring on a technologically advanced communications and networking center set to go up on the campus of the White Sands Missile Range, 17 miles north of Las Cruces. The two-story Systems Facility and Communications Center will cost at least $40 million to build and is designed to replace an existing facility, originally called the “telephone exchange and communication center,” that was built in early 1962. According to plans for the project, two existing structures will be demolished to make way for the building of the new center. Measuring just over 56,000 square feet, the new facility will house some $32 million in the latest information systems technology, including data processing systems and test mission radio control. In a statement, April Banks, facility manager with the White Sands Test Center, said the new facility will “give us the ability to do more testing. It advances our capabilities to process and transport vast amounts of electronic test data more reliably, efficiently, faster and securely.” Funding for the project was secured through the federal Military Construction Army Program. The original timeline set the start date of construction at 2023, but last year the U.S. Army moved the project up to 2019. Completion date for the project is set for early 2022. The existing center, built at a cost of $267,000, has long been regarded as too small and outdated for the White Sands Missile Range’s current needs. By Garry Boulard The code enforcement of both design and construction projects can be a significantly less thorny proposition if code enforcers are invited in to be a more active part of those projects.
That’s the conclusion of a new report issued by the nonprofit National Institute of Building Sciences which says that all too often code officials are contacted “late in the design process.” “This later involvement often contributes to project delays and increased costs because the project team’s identified solutions do not comply with adopted codes or standards,” says the report, entitled Engaging Code Officials Early in the Process to Achieve High-Performance Buildings. At the same time the report, which was conducted by the group’s National Council on Building Codes and Standards, says, “code officials in jurisdictions across the nation hae found that identifying concerns early provides the best opportunity to rectify them.” Such an engagement, the report continues, “shifts the paradigm from the old role of verifier by review and inspection to a new one of project facilitator.” In addition, involving building, fire, mechanical, and plumbing code officials has the ultimate effect of creating a “link between stake holders, economic development, and health, safety and welfare by involving the relevant authorities.” The Washington-based National Institute of Building Sciences is a nonprofit group studying issues affecting the nation’s construction industry. By Garry Boulard Funding for the continued upkeep of just over 30 facilities making up the Santa Fe Public Schools district will be decided by city voters on February 6.
As proposed, the two-mill levy will raise $11.5 million every year for the next 6 years to pay for facility upkeep projects in three high schools, three combined high schools and middle schools, three middle schools, and 21 elementary schools. Altogether, the district’s schools, recently remarked Superintendent Veronica Garcia, comprise about 2.1 million square feet of property. The vote will come on the same day that Santa Fe residents will decide on a $17 million bond proposed to fund a variety of facility construction and upgrade projects at Santa Fe Community College. The last Santa Fe Public Schools facility mill levy proposal passed with about 70 percent of the vote in 2012. by Garry Boulard A long-simmering dispute between the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and Maricopa County regarding the maintenance and upgrading of the Chase Field stadium may be on the verge of a resolution. For several years the team, which plays in the National League West division, has been complaining about an assessment indicating that the 20 year-old stadium in downtown Phoenix is in need of around $187 million in improvements. The Diamondbacks have been particularly put off by facility issues relating to a faulty air conditioning system, as well as broken water pipes and other infrastructure matters. But Maricopa County officials have insisted that such repairs are the responsibility of the team. A possible break in the impasse was almost achieved two years ago when outside investors proposed a purchase of the stadium with an eye to tearing it down and building a new one. The Diamondbacks walked away from that offer after charging that those investors had failed to provide needed in-depth financial information regarding the possible purchase. Last summer, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Karen Mullins ordered both the county and the team to enter into private mediation as a means of settling the stadium dispute. Now, after roughly 5 months of that mediation, representatives for both the Diamondbacks and Maricopa County have asked to be able to continue talks until mid-February, offering the hope that such discussions may be going somewhere. If a settlement between the parties is reached, the deal would still have to win the approval of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The Chase Field stadium was built at a cost of $238 million and opened in the spring of 1998. It has been the home to the Diamondbacks since the team was launched in that same year. By Garry Boulard Along with providing funding for library acquisitions and senior citizen facility improvements, a bill introduced in the New Mexico State Legislature could result in up to $50 million in support for road construction and maintenance projects.
Introduced by Senator Carlos Cisneros, Senate Bill 94, if passed by the legislature, would put on this November’s ballot a general obligation bond designed to address road projects throughout the state. With more than 400 state highways and roads comprising some 7,400 miles, New Mexico has a backlog of construction and upkeep projects in all six of the state’s officially designated transportation districts. Cisneros’ bill is currently under review in the 10-member procedural Senate Committee’s committee before it can go to a full Senate vote. The legislature is scheduled to conclude its 2018 session on February 15. By Garry Boulard |
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