Cornell College is in early planning stages for construction of a new dorm hall on the south end of Cornell College’s campus.
Scott Ladwig, construction projects manager at Cornell College, Randy Clarahan with Mortenson Construction and Paul Wendeberg of KWK Engineering presented the outline for the dorm hall at the Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission meeting Saturday, Oct. 1.
The new dorm hall will be placed to the west of Ink Pond. Design will be looking to carry similar brick colors that are found on the Russell Science Center and other dorm buildings.
While the building will be aligned more parallel to College Boulevard, the parking lot and main entrance to the building will be located to the north of the building.
Wendeberg said that one portion of the design was making sure there is a detention basin for stormwater mediation with the construction also towards the north of the building. That basin will collect the rainwater from the adjacent parking lots and help it not to overflow storm water systems or downstream streams and drain at a steady rate.
“Ninety percent of the time, that detention basin will be completely dry,” Wendeberg said.
The dorm will have a parking lot that caters to 80 spots on site.
Ladwig said the college is also working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to identify foiliage that will be aesthetically pleasing for that basin.
Historic preservation commission member Duane Eash said that one of his concerns was that the entire brick wall design of the dorm room facing street side with no entry way on the College Boulevard side of the street gives a walled off effect to the campus to him.
Ladwig said that the discussion of what pedestrian traffic around the building would look like, and they will be considering how the building looks from that street to address some of those concerns.
“Our focus was to make the building as secure as possible, as it will be a living space for many students,” Ladwig said.
Ladwig said they will be reaching out to neighbors as the project moves forward as well to get their concerns.
“We’re still in the design phase of this building,” Ladwig said. “We will solicit feedback and look at things in reason to address concerns with the project as we move forward.”
Another concern was how parking and increased traffic to the dorm by vehicles will impact the neighborhood in the future.
The construction of the new dorm is expected to go out for bid in spring 2023, with construction to start shortly after and to have heads in beds by fall 2024.
Preservation Awards Saturday, Oct. 15The Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission will hold their annual awards Saturday, Oct. 15, at 10 a.m. at the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center. The event will be catered by Bon Appetit and invitations have went to all property owners as well as the public.