Plans for the long-expected Joint Use Facility between North Idaho College, Lewis Clark State College and the University of Idaho in Coeur d’Alene, are slowly becoming more concrete.

The two-story facility will be used as a “front door” for students looking for a higher education in North Idaho. The building will provide services for all three colleges, such as financial services, scheduling and admissions.

The NIC Board of Trustees met Wednesday evening to discuss location options for the building. Though nothing was decided, the meeting did highlight the work, planning and funding that has gone into the project.

The Joint Use Facility Committee, comprised of representatives and board members from all three colleges, decided the best place for the facility would be the area surrounded by the three roundabouts on campus. The area is bordered by College Drive, Hubbard Avenue and W. River Avenue (see map).

Within that area, there are three spots the 29,000-square-foot building could go; in the northwest corner, the northeast corner or the southeast corner.

Richard Colburn, with H2a Architects, is the lead architect for the facility. He told the board Wednesday he and the Joint Use Facility Committee agreed the best spot for the building is in the southeast corner of the aforementioned area.

“We want this to be visible and identifiable,” Colburn said. “When students get to campus, there should be no doubt that this is the first place to go.”

If the building were placed in the southeast corner, he told the board Wednesday, it would be visible as people approached campus from both the north and the south, it would be closer to the heart of campus and it’s right across the street from a parking lot and the new recreation center.

However, the existing River Building would need to be demolished, Colburn said. The demolition would be covered by the existing budget of $9.5 million.

The budget is made up by $666,666 contributions from each of the three colleges, a $2.5 million contribution from ignite cda and $5 million from the Idaho Permanent Building Fund.

During the meeting, board member Judy Meyer said she didn’t feel comfortable making a decision until the board could spend more time on the information that was presented.

“Once this building is committed, it has ripple effects that we don’t even know about yet,” she said. “I don’t have any difficulty with it, I just want to be sure we the board understand and agree to what ripples might happen if we choose this site.”

Board Chair Ken Howard agreed, and wanted an official agreement to be written and signed by all three colleges before moving forward with the project.

“...is this a partnership, is this a building that others contribute to that is owned by NIC and is on NIC’s property, who’s going to manage it, under what circumstances do we manage the space available?” he asked. “All of that I think should be in writing and signed by all involved. That really has to be done before we move forward and start spending money on it.”

Another topic of concern was how the Joint Use Facility would play into the college’s long-range plan, which has not been developed yet.

Trustee Christie Wood, who is on the Joint Use Facility Committee, reminded her peers they had just recently made a similar decision to go forward with building the new student rec center without having a master plan for the campus.

“I would also like to mention that all of the partners have met and we discussed this and they are in support of this as well. They like the visibility and close access to facilities and this works best for them,” she said. “If we don’t come to a conclusion, we will delay this project that we have been looking at and the students need this access now.”

The board agreed to get more information and make a decision about the facility’s location at its next meeting in December.