Projects

New Midtown Campus
In 2006, a joint venture between HACC, the City of Harrisburg, and a developer, Powers and Associates, entered into an agreement to create a mid-town site in downtown Harrisburg. The site includes the historical United Evangelical Press building, a historical landmark, constructed in 1917. The vision for the current higher education project is credited to Mayor Stephen R. Reed, who was recently rated as the best mayor in the U.S. and the third best mayor in the “world”. The lease for this fast track 125,000 sq. ft. renovation project was signed on July 21, 2006. Programming and schematic plans were approved in September, 2006, demolition started in October, 2006, and the building will open for student classes in July, 2007. Educational programs will focus on construction trades and technology. Labs will include: HVAC, Electrical, Carpentry, Computer Technology, GIS and CAD drafting. The Evangelical Press building will eventually be connected via an urban meadow to another existing downtown HACC building CCTA. The end result will be a new mid-town campus for the City of Harrisburg that will educate a large regional area.

Existing and recently completed Projects
Harrisburg Campus
Since 2005, a total of 14 projects have been completed, including, but not limited to: installation of a solar photovoltaic system at the Physical Education building at the Harrisburg campus; replacement of the swimming pool sand filtering tanks at the Physical Education building; installation of independent water and gas metering for each building; HVAC equipment vibration monitoring; installation of HVAC poly chain belts; water conservation retrofits; building weatherization; and creation of a facility performance index system to monitor air handling units and other critical equipment.

Efforts continue to address aging issues at the 40 year old Harrisburg main campus. Lighting improvements, a recently completed project for $90,000 to restore the terrazzo floors, re-painting of the Cooper Student Center, carpet replacements, and ceiling tile cleaning and replacement are examples of this effort. As a result of student, faculty, and staff input during the Master Planning process, a five to seven year furniture replacement effort with Commonwealth Business Interiors, a local vendor, commenced in 2005. Ninety-one classrooms received new furniture, were painted, and received new suspended ceiling tile.

Due the colleges continued growth, a special way-finding project is now underway to re-sign the entire Harrisburg campus.

Environmental Projects:
Recycling Project
Keeping trash out of buildings has been addressed by constructing attractive outdoor cedar fenced areas with covered containers for trash, re-cycled cardboard, re-cycled paper, and re-cycled plastic and aluminum cans. Reports of weight and cost for trash removal and the weight and income generated through re-cycling are reviewed to evaluate effectiveness and to identify next steps for continual improvement.

HACC, in conjunction with campus environmental department faculty also developed an experimental rainwater retention and filtration area at the west parking lot of the Harrisburg campus. In an attempt to prevent automotive oils and other pollutants from entering the watershed, the filtering effect of special perennial plants and alternating layers of topsoil and manure are being evaluated.

In conjunction with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Paxton Creek Watershed and Education Association, HACC students repotted 1,000 trees and shrubs of nine native species for growth prior to their use in conservation landscape, creek buffer, and bio-retention projects which occurred during the spring of 2005. The use of buffer vegetation has protected the Paxton Creek from parking lot runoff and non-point source pollution while enhancing the beauty of the campus. Assistance by the Grounds and Maintenance staffs is typical of continuing support of student and faculty activities.

A nature trail on what was previously a City dumping area was also created by the Facilities staff at Harrisburg. This nature trail is adjacent to and complements the locally renowned Wildwood Lake Sanctuary - a haven for countless species of flora and fauna, especially migrating water fowl. The trail provides a pleasant walking path and is a living educational laboratory with native wildflowers including milkweed, ironweed, and eupatorium; and fauna such as fox, deer, and groundhogs; and insects such as bees and the Monarch butterfly. The trail is lined with bird boxes designed to encourage population of various cavity nesting birds such as: Eastern Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Chickadees, and Prothonotary Warblers. The Prothonotary Warbler, in particular, has suffered habitat loss in recent years and is considered endangered in Canada. Since the establishment of the bird boxes, the rarer Prothonotary Warbler has been seen and heard along the trail. Due to the success of the nature trail, an increase in the number of bluebirds has created a need to erect additional bluebird boxes throughout campus. Several bee hives, constructed by a faculty member are now producing honey. The HACC campus at Harrisburg is classified as an arboretum and, with the nature trail, is a part of the Capital Area Greenbelt which surrounds Pennsylvania's capital city of Harrisburg.

Security Related Projects
With terrorism and other security concerns the Facilities Department is implementing across all campuses new access and surveillance technologies.

Near many doors are card "readers" for the new door access control system. The card key system replaces traditional hard keys with a new HACC ID card or "soft" key. The advantage of a soft key card is that it can be easily replaced or programmed for a particular person access needs. When a traditional hard key is lost there is a risk that someone may find the key and use it to gain unauthorized access to an area, with the only solution being a costly and time consuming mass changing of lock cores. If however, a card key is lost it can be easily turned off, and the person that lost the card can be given a new card immediately.

Other advantages of the system include: Door schedules that limit access to specific times of the day or week; a record of what person entered what door and when; the ability to control other "input" devices like motorized gates, and video cameras. In fact the system could literally control a toaster if it had to. The card key network is broad and covers all the campuses. It should be noted, that the card key system does not replace the existing hard key locks, instead it is integrated as part of the locks.

Along with the card key system comes new a digital video surveillance systems that covers most campuses and can be controlled at the campus level or centralized.