Local governments may have an easier time of it when it comes to applying for funding from Washington, according to sources working on the Trump Administration’s massive transportation initiative.
That component, which is thought will also help public/private transportation infrastructure projects, is part of what is reported to be a 70-page document calling for increased federal transportation funding to be submitted to Congress early next year. Altogether, the administration is expected to propose that up to $200 billion in seed money from Washington be used for thousands of transportation infrastructure projects. And that $200 billion will be part of a much larger $1 trillion national transportation infrastructure bill. The 70-page document, offering what is being described as “detailed legislative principles,” is intended to serve as a template for lawmakers who will be doing the actual work of putting together transportation-related legislation next year. If passed, a streamlined application process for federal funds will allow applicants to better calibrate their chances for actually obtaining money from Washington. An additional part of the working White House proposal is expected to call for a more comprehensive use of block grants to support both infrastructure and broadband projects, particularly in rural areas. Policy experts have noted that, as a reflection of the nation’s aging transportation infrastructure, state and local leaders today are more interested in getting funds to maintain and upgrade existing roads and bridges than might have been the case 20 or 30 years ago when that infrastructure was still being built out.
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A controversial project that will see structural alterations and upgrading to the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix may be moving forward.
That facility, located at 668 N. 44th Street, was built in 1997 and has long served as a gathering spot for Arizona’s Chinese-American community with its concentration of stores, restaurants, and other businesses. Earlier this year, the True North Companies, a private equities firm based in Scottsdale, acquired majority ownership of the property and shortly thereafter announced plans to house its offices there, while also building a business center at the site. Those proposed changes to the 165,000 square foot structure sparked the opposition of many in the community who said the site, with its outdoor gardens and ponds highlighted by statues and pagodas, is a place of cultural importance that shouldn’t be altered. An online petition protesting any changes to the facility has been to date signed by more than 16,500 people, and notes that materials were imported from China in the construction of the center, calling the building an “important piece of Arizona history.” In response to the plans to change at least a part of the facility, a tenant there, D.J. Design & Construction, filed suit in the Maricopa County Superior Court saying that any alterations to the site, according to a provision of the center’s leases, had to be first agreed to by a majority of the tenants. In September, Superior Court Judge Randall Warner issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the new owner from making any physical changes to the Chinese Cultural Center, pending further information. Now Warner has removed that ban, allowing the new owners to make changes to the facility that will include removing its famous green glazed tile roof. Warner’s ruling, among other things, said changes to the building would result in no “irreparable injury not remediable by damages” to the plaintiff. There are indications that that ruling will be appealed. A bill designed to increase high-speed internet access in the nation’s tribal communities is now being considered in the U.S. Senate.
The Tribal Connect Act of 2017, sponsored by New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich and Nevada Senator Dean Heller, is asking for upwards of $100 million in federal spending to make that access more likely. “Access to high-speed internet is increasingly essential to daily life and brings unprecedented economic opportunities for users, especially for people living in remote areas,” Heinrich said in introducing the legislation. A report called America’s Digital Divide, published in September by the Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, said that in more than 200 counties across the country there is currently no access to broadband internet. The report noted a persistent urban/rural divide on broadband access, adding: “Among rural communities, those found in Indian Country are among those struggling the most to gain access to broadband.” “Communities in Indian Country are often in some of the most remote areas of the country,” the report continued, “making the barriers to broadband access even bigger for the communities on these lands.” That same report found that 61 percent of rural residents in New Mexico lacked broadband access. The numbers were equally high in Arizona and Colorado at 63 percent and 53 percent respectively. Reflecting a strong and growing market for high-tech incubation businesses, the Innosphere company of Fort Collins has announced plans to build new office and research space both in Fort Collins and Denver.
The two projects carry a combined $18 million price tag, $3 million for the company’s expansion of its Fort Collins facilities, and $15 million to build a new location in Denver. The Fort Collins expansion will see the construction of a new building that will go up next door to its current headquarters at 320 E. Vine Drive on the north side of the city. The one-story expansion will house up to 8,000 square feet of lab space. Although a specific site has not yet been determined for the Denver project, company officials say it will almost certainly go up in the city’s popular River North district. If all goes as planned, work could begin on the Fort Collins expansion in the latter part of 2018. The new Denver facility could see construction starting sometime in mid-2019. Launched in 1997, Innosphere secured more than $5 million earlier this year for an early-stage venture capital fund to be used for its client companies. It initially focused on putting together business plans for start-up firms, but now also helps companies that have been in in operation for longer periods of time. Innosphere additionally assists companies with networking, fundraising support, and how to increase sales. A plan to build a 522-megawatt wind farm in eastern New Mexico has overcome a series of challenges that could have stopped the big project.
Xcel Energy, Inc., based in Minneapolis, announced earlier this year that it wanted to build the New Mexico facility about 20 miles to the south of Portales. At the same time, the company said it would construct a 478-megawatt farm some 105 miles to the southwest, just above Lubbock, Texas. The company planned to invest upwards of $1.6 billion to build the two wind farms which, together, could generate enough power for around 440,000 homes every year. Xcel also hoped that, after winning the approval of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission and the Public Utility Commission of Texas, work on the two facilities could begin in 2018. The proposal, however, was challenged by a Public Regulation Commission report saying that the company’s projected savings for ratepayers was anything but certain, and that there should be a guarantee that money would be sent back to customers if savings from the wind farms weren’t realized. Now, Xcel subsidiary, the Southwest Public Service Company, has agreed to guarantee that the two wind farms will produce at least 48 percent of its capacity every year, with customers getting a full 100 percent federal tax credit once the facilities are up and running. The project must still see a final agreement between the Southwest Public Service Company and Next Era Energy in Texas in order to proceed. El Paso could be on the verge of creating a district that will allow property owners to receive tax credits for renovation projects.
A consulting firm hired earlier this year by the El Paso Commissioners Court has released findings showing that there are exactly 169 properties in El Paso’s downtown area, including the Chihuahuita and Segundo Barrio neighborhoods, that could be classified as historic and eligible for National Register of Historic Places certification. The report is compiled by the Austin-based Hardy Heck Moore, Inc., a firm specializing in historic preservation consulting. The company surveyed more than 1,700 structures and sites in a 23-block area before determining the status of the 169 properties, some of which have buildings that are more than 100 years old. According to a draft of what is entitled the Historical and Architectural Survey for the County of El Paso, the many different properties are in a variety of conditions. “Due to the nature and age of the resources in the survey area, alterations to both residential commercial buildings are not uncommon,” the document says. “Many houses have stucco covering original adobe or brick, or have replacement windows and doors.” The document also notes that “along commercial corridors in downtown and Segundo Barrio, common alterations include storefront replacements, exterior wall replacements, and oftentimes the addition of slip-covers.” The area surveyed also included the Duranguito neighborhood, which has been at the center of a simmering controversy, owing to the City of El Paso’s efforts to build a $180 million arena there. That neighborhood, according to the document, includes a fire station designed by legendary architect Henry Trost and three Victorian-era homes. If the City of El Paso and El Paso County agree to pursue the creation of a historic district, owners of historic properties there would be eligible for both federal and state tax credits worth tens of thousands of dollars as they pursue renovation and updating projects. Work could begin before spring on an effort to renovate two existing structures on the east side of Tucson that will be used by and for nonprofit organizations.
The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona has announced that it is updating a 24,000 square foot structure at 5049 E. Broadway to serve as its new headquarters. The foundation, which was founded in 1980, is dedicated to helping other nonprofits fund a variety of community projects. It has, since its beginning, given out more than $160 million in grants to educational institutes and nonprofits. Officials with the group say that one building at the new site will serve as their offices, while they plan to adapt the rest of that building and another structure for additional nonprofit space. So far, the foundation has raised more than $1.5 million for what is expected to be a $4 million project. If all goes according to plan, work on the site will be completed by next summer. A high-tech, visually exciting building, signaling a new era in aerospace engineering research, is now under construction on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado.
“This is a very important project for us,” says Joshua Lindenstein, a spokesman for the office of strategic relations at CU, “and one that a lot of planning has gone into.” Currently, the school’s aerospace engineering program is housed in the Engineering Center, a 1960s modernistic brick structure on the main campus. The new building, on CU’s east campus, is partly being built to accommodate the school’s continued enrollment growth. That growth has seen a steady increase from less than 650 in the fall of 2011 to around 1,000 today. CU officials additionally predict that enrollment in the program could increase between 10 and 20 percent in the next three years. One of the reasons for the program’s popularity, notes Douglas Smith, assistant dean for programs and engagement at CU’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, is its centrality. The program, he says, “is a hub for the aerospace industry in Colorado because it has become the center of activity among large corporations.” This means that giant corporations like Bell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon regularly work with the program, as do “small local corporations and start-ups.” It is, in fact, the top National Aeronautics and Space Administration-funded public institution program in the world. “Our faculty and students are at the heart of this hub of activity, as all parts have an overlapping interest in what they are doing,” adds Smith. The new structure is going up along Discovery Drive, sandwiched between the Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Complex, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics’ Space Science Building. First talked about nearly a decade ago, but delayed due to a lack of state funding, the project last year received $5.5 million to begin the design phase of the structure, with CU’s Board of Regents this summer approving $82.5 million in spending authority to actually build the new school. That $82.5 million was part of a larger $300 million in new construction and renovation projects at CU that were also approved by the regents. At more than 144,000 square feet, the four-story building housing modern lab space, classrooms and offices will be by any measure a magnificent structure. “It’s going to be a building that is very open,” notes Lewis Groswald, program director for the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. “It’s designed to be as porous with light as possible,” says Groswald. But the new building’s symbolism, enhancing CU’s reputation as a leader in aerospace education and research, is additionally important to CU officials. In a statement, CU Chancellor Philip DiStefano declared that the new structure “showcases our commitment to enhancing the ability of our students and faculty members to lead in a way that is innovative and impacts humanity in a positive way.” As planned, the building, which has not yet been officially named, will be surrounded by wide vistas of open green space on both the structure’s north and south sides. Visitors entering the building will see an inviting and spacious lobby, with a “student launch pad” collaborative space off to the side. “There are different centers within the department,” says Groswald, “but the space in the new facility will allow these centers to overlap, providing flexibility for the different research that is being conducted.” The building will also house a 210-person auditorium and classroom, a pilot lab with dozens of computers, and a large warehouse-like space for unmanned aerial systems research. Upper floors of the structure will house a payload operation center and human spaceflight workshop, with a roof design that will allow for satellite tracking and other research. Groswald notes that as the building takes shape, the program’s faculty, staff, and students are watching its progress and anticipating the date of completion. “Everyone is definitely excited about this,” he says. Work on the new building is expected to wrap in the summer of 2019, in time for that year’s fall semester. Up to two dozen new cell towers could be constructed as part of a master plan being reviewed by members of the Sedona City Council.
There are currently 22 such towers within Sedona’s limits or just outside those limits. A draft of the city’s Wireless Communication Master Plan has indicated that at least 16 more could be built inside the city, with another nine near Sedona’s borders. Located about 30 miles southwest of Flagstaff, Sedona has seen a slow increase in its population from less than 8,900 in the late 1990s to more than 10,300 today. City officials have said that that increase, along with the need for updated telecommunications technology, is a driving force for the construction of more towers. In response, Sedona contracted out last year with City Scape Consultants, Inc., a Boca Raton, Florida-based telecommunications consulting firm, to help develop the master plan. The towers, which will have to be approved by the city’s planning and zoning commission as well as the Sedona City Council, will more than likely go up on city-owned sites. The master plan is expected to be reviewed by the council at their next meeting on December 13. In a move to replace two aging elementary schools, work could begin late next year on the more than $20 million construction of a new elementary school in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
The long-anticipated project is designed to replace two schools that are more than half a century old: the Craft Elementary School at 406 W. Lea Street, and the Joe Stanley Elementary School at 408 N. Canyon Street. Members of the Carlsbad Municipal School Board have approved a contract with the Carlsbad-based Mitchell & Cruse Architecture and Dekker/Perich/Sabatini of Albuquerque to design the new structure. Although it was earlier estimated that the new school would cost at least $31 million to build, the school board last spring determined that the project could not exceed $26 million. Some estimates now peg the price as low as $22 million. The Carlsbad Municipal Schools District has recently been going through a facility restructuring. It closed four elementary schools and built two replacement facilities last year. Work on the new school will be funded out of a $60 million bond passed by district voters in 2014. Plans call for a 78,000 square foot structure that will be built to accommodate just over 600 students. The building will go up east of the Early Childhood Education Center, also located on N. Canyon Street. The design development phase of the project is scheduled to conclude next March, with the new school completed and open for students by early 2020. |
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