Northwest College is gathering input as it prepares to update its master plan more than 10 years after the last full refresh and amid uncertainty regarding future funding. 

The morning of March 26, a handful of community members gathered in the Yellowstone Building to provide ideas for what they’d like to see included in a new master plan, whether for new buildings, new ways to use old buildings, or other suggestions. 

NWC President Lisa Watson said they’ve already had similar conversations with trustees — a few of whom were present Wednesday — faculty and staff, and students. 

“The master plan is important for the college,” she said. “It's a guide for us for campus as it relates to facilities.”

A couple big projects that have been in master plans since 2008 are now becoming bigger priorities, especially work to rebuild some of the key systems, such as HVAC, in the Orendorff Building. The building was finished in 1955 and is the oldest on campus, but Watson said the building itself, unlike the waterlogged DeWitt Student Center in later years, is still solid, it’s just some of the interior systems that need an update.

“It's not doing really well right now, mechanically, electrically and plumbing wise, because systems in the building are original. They're collapsing and they're basically falling apart,” Watson said, adding, “So we went back to the state, though, and said the building itself is constructed very well. It's above ground. It serves us, and continues to serve us, both as an administrative and an academic building, and we have a museum in there. So we don't want to get rid of the building, but we do need your help to try to improve it, and that's what we're working on right now, and that was a path that we've wound through for the last few years.”

The Orendorff rehab is one of a number of projects the college has listed since 2008. 

Another big goal listed on the 2008 plan was to tear down the Nelson Performing Arts Facility and build a new performing arts center.

State law requires NWC to update its Facilities Master Plan periodically, and the college has contracted with Evergreen Dwellings to create a plan to determine which projects should be prioritized over the next few years.

Kane Morris with Evergreen Dwellings said in his experience NWC is as efficient as anyone in using funds it receives in order to maintain buildings and programs.

“Master plans forever evolve,” he said. “Which that should be, because things change … We got this building that we're standing in that was one of the ones that they wanted to have happen. You know, back in one of these master plans, same with the new student union building. So it takes time, it takes money, as we all are aware. But it does happen, and it's a good thing, so then we're able to address those things that we've checked off lists and keep on moving.”

The college is accepting feedback online at nwc.edu/input through Friday.