This podcast contains comments from Blinn College consultant Meredith Epley-McWilliams during the April 20, 2021 meeting of the Blinn College board of trustees.

Later this month, the Blinn College board of trustees could take action on the district's first ever master plan.

April's Blinn trustees meeting included receiving recommendations from the district's consultant team involving all current campuses about future construction, renovation, enhancements, and demolition.

The recommendations are based on assessing facilities and enrollment projections at all Blinn campus locations.

At Blinn's Bryan campus, recommendations from consultant Meredith Epley-McWilliams includes new construction on land that Blinn acquired in January at Villa Maria Road and Nash Street.

Blinn has received a WTAW News open records request, asking for the purchase price and when Blinn acquired the former Rivergate church property and three adjacent parcels. According to the Brazos Central Appraisal District website, Blinn acquired the deeds on January 20, 2021. But there is no mention of the purchase in the minutes of Blinn board of trustees meetings dating back to September 2020, when the Rivergate church website referred to negotiating the sale of their property with Blinn.

McWilliams proposed in the next four years at Villa Maria and Nash, the construction of a new administration and student services building, which would move those services to campus from the Tejas Center. The 2021-2025 timeline would also extend Nash Street from the former church property to the main campus.

Between the years 2026 and 2030, the master plan proposes Blinn would build intramural fields on the former church property. And between the years 2031 and 2040, Blinn's new land would be the site of a new student activities center and a hiking and jogging trail.

Elsewhere on the Bryan campus, the master plan proposes in the 2021-2025 time frame a 10,000 square foot library addition, renovating the current library, and improvements outside the library. There is also the start of a proposed "south campus pedestrian connection" between campus buildings and parking lots.

Between 2026 and 2030, the master plan also proposes a new fine arts and academic building off Blinn Boulevard. That would result in the demolition of four buildings on the Bryan campus. Buildings "D", "F", "R", and "T" currently house faculty offices, human resources, distance learning, and large classrooms.

Also between 2026 and 2030, the master plan proposes renovating the student center, expanding and converting the physical plant, improvements in the student center quad area, finishing the "south campus pedestrian connection", improving the entrance off Blinn Blvd., and adding monument signs at Blinn Blvd. and East 29th Street.

From 2031-2040, the master plan also proposes streetscape improvements along the west and north sides of the Bryan campus.

Master plan recommendations for Blinn's presence on the RELLIS campus are finishing the expansion of the administration building and parking that is currently underway, between 2026 and 2030 constructing a third building and adding more parking, and between 2031-2040 adding two more buildings and an enhancement project with a water feature and green space.

Documents related to this story, including the proposed master plan and records from the Brazos Central Appraisal district, are at: https://wtaw.com/?p=146148