Community College plans relocation to Newtown Pike

By Anna Hawthorne

UK’s college neighbor is planning a move.

Part of the Bluegrass Community and Technical College is relocating in order to accommodate the rising number of students enrolled.  BCTC chief communications officer Vernal Kennedy  said the relocation could take more than a decade to complete but the first building on the new campus will be open to students in the next couple of years.

“We’re still in the process of planning, but with our growth, we no longer have enough space on our Cooper location,“ Kennedy said.

The community college will move to Eastern State Hospital on Newtown Pike, which is one of the oldest operating mental institutions in the country. The hospital will transfer into a new facility on UK’s Coldstream Research Park property, also on Newtown Pike.

The current BCTC campus on Cooper Drive will become part of UK’s campus.  However, it is not yet determined what the university will do with the buildings because it could be 10 to 15 years before the campus is vacant.

“This is an academic decision, not one for facility management,” said Bob Wiseman, UK’s vice president for facilities management.  “Over the coming years the Provost will have ample time to consider all of our options.”

Kennedy said most of the current students will probably not be affected by the change, even though it is still undecided what programs will be moved to the new building.  Some students are worried if their program is moved, the new campus will be too far away.

“It would be a long drive,” said Timme Gabbard, BCTC nursing student and Nicholasville resident.  Gabbard said she would either transfer to BCTC’s Danville campus or go to UK instead.

Kennedy said administrators are working to make the new location as convenient as it is now by creating an “education triangle.”  The triangle would connect BCTC, UK and Transylvania University with a bike and pedestrian path called the Legacy Trail, a trail connecting downtown Lexington to the Kentucky Horsepark.  The development of the trail is overseen by Legacy Center, a city community foundation.

Other students are less concerned with the commute and more disturbed by the chosen location.

The future 48-acre campus has been used as a mental institution since 1816 and is surrounded by railroads, the Hope Center and an on-site cemetery.  State workers discovered more than 4,500 graves on the property while doing construction. BCTC officials said the grave site will remain and they will build around it.

“I’m not going to a school that used to be a mental institution and has dead bodies,” said Chase Tuney, a BCTC business and management student. “Not a chance … I’d either take online classes or go find the closest satellite campus.”

Some of the faculty said it would be strange to have a cemetery on the new campus.

“Sometimes the laws protecting the dead are stronger than the laws protecting the living, but it doesn’t bother me,” said James Anthony, a BCTC English professor.  “I think the move will help us get a more independent identity.”

Other BCTC staff members agree the move would benefit the college, but question if it will really happen because the plan requires more than $500 million over the next 20 years.

“We need a space that’s designed to integrate the Lexington campuses, that has parking and that isn’t dependent on UK,” said Laura Heyrman, a BCTC art history instructor.  “And I know UK would like to get these buildings back, but that money is just not there.  We’ve been promised new buildings before.

“There are a lot of possibilities, but I don’t think anybody has really thought in practicalities of the process of making those changes … I just don’t see it possible in this economy.  It’s too bad.”

Kennedy said she is unsure of what will happen in the future and just wants to focus on the one new building for now.

“Right now we’re in the programming and planning phase,” Kennedy said.  “But down the road, I’m not sure what will happen. That’s long-term planning.  There are no short term plans to totally relocate.”

Kennedy said the public is welcome to attend their next meeting regarding this issue.  It will be held on Nov. 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the North Lexington YMCA.