The expansion of Durham Tech’s Orange County Campus may soon be a reality with current budget discussions underway.
Each year, the Orange County Board of Commissioners creates a Capital Investment Plan (CIP) to establish a framework for the next five years of local spending.
This year, the recommended budget plan allocates more than $117 million to schools in Orange County – $25 million of which is proposed to go towards the expansion of Durham Tech’s Orange County Campus.
Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Renee Price said the 2021-2026 CIP includes a variety of county and school projects.
“One of the things we’re going to be moving forward on is the Orange County Campus to the Durham Technical Community College,” Price said. “We’re really excited about that. It’s something that’s been talked about for many years and so now we’re making strides to make that a reality.”
While expansion to the single-building campus on College Park Road in Hillsborough has been discussed before, recent changes to the CIP have accelerated the timeline. At a Board of County Commissioners meeting in December, the group voted 5-2 in favor of a funding plan for expansion in the next five years instead of ten.
Doing so allows the community college to begin planning and start designs for the expansion to the 20-acre campus.
Located in the Waterstone Development, the Orange County Campus currently consists of a 40,000-square-foot brick structure with 22 instructional spaces – including classrooms, computer and science labs, and a library.
Price said expanding the community college and improving its accessibility to Orange County residents will be a great resource to those looking to further their education.
“The fact that even now, students, if they’re in high school, they can still go to college at the same time and get two degrees at one time,” Price said. “Then students can do two years at Durham Tech and have their credits transferred to a four-year school and continue on.”
For the current fiscal year, Orange County’s budget has $1 million set aside for the Durham Tech expansion. The recommended CIP currently under discussion allocates roughly $3 million for the 2021-2022 fiscal year and more than $22 million for the year after.
“It’s a great opportunity – particularly with the hospital and the health services right down the road there at the Waterstone Development,” Price said. “It’s just a great synergy right there.”
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