Bond could benefit Chemeketa in Woodburn, Brooks

A bond measure headed for the November ballot could stand to benefit the Chemeketa Community College annexes in both Woodburn and Brooks, pending approval by voters around the region.

Other anticipated initiatives include improved parking at all Chemeketa facilities and overall improved career and technical education.

Chemeketa spokeswoman Marie Hulett noted that if the measure passes, the new bond rate will remain the same as the expiring 2008 bond rate, which is $0.27 per $1,000 of assessed property value. That means that for a home valued at $280,000, the property owner would continue to pay $75.60 per year, or 20 cents per day.

If passed, the 2024 bond will generate an anticipated $140 million in revenue designated for campus/center improvements. Those improvements are itemized as follows:

Expanding career and technical education: Increase capacity in healthcare, the trades, and emergency services.Brooks Center reconfiguration: Expand programming for healthcare and emergency services.Building 33 renovation: Create a new trades center for apprenticeship programs (plumbing, HVAC, sheet metal) on the Salem Campus.Building 7 renovation: Modernize the 1981 structure for health and wellness programming, complementing its current physical education use and reconfiguring it with federal matching funds to serve the community as a disaster resource site.Classroom modernization: Keep pace with technological and academic best practices.Parking lot improvements: Enhance safety across Chemeketa’s campuses/centers.Woodburn Center: Introduce a new science lab which would allow students to complete associate degrees locally. (The Center does not currently have a science lab.)Student engagement: Create spaces to support student services, focusing on Salem Campus’s Building 2 and athletic fields.

Chemeketa serves the mid-Willamette Valley and is the second multi-campus district in Oregon. It enrolls 30,000 students annually at its Salem and Yamhill Valley campuses, as well as campuses in Brooks, Eola, Winema, Dallas, Woodburn and Chemeketa Center for Business and Industry.