Post-Katrina Emergency Facilities Recovery Efforts as of 3/15/07
Submitted with SACS Compliance Audit on March 15, 2007
Despite Hurricane Katrina’s unimaginable devastation to the College’s facilities, in the Spring of 2006, all campuses and centers reopened with an enrollment of 10,001, and by Fall 2006, enrollment had grown to 11,927. The College continues to make strides in recovery of its facilities. The following is a summary of Delgado’s campuses and sites, with specific information regarding the recovery of operations for the affected buildings to date.
City Park Campus
The City Park Campus is the main campus and is situated on approximately 57 landscaped acres of land that was acquired in 1912. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, there were 25 functioning buildings with over 714,500 square feet of floor space on the main campus that house classrooms, laboratories and support areas. On
Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and changed the world as we knew it. The hardest hit was the City Park Campus, where severe wind and up to six feet of flood water damaged or destroyed 20 of its 25 buildings. As a result of the devastation, the College has worked diligently to bring the campus back to meet the needs of its returning students. The following is a summary of the recovery efforts for the operations housed in each affected building on the City Park Campus to date.
City Park Campus Building 2 Recovery of Operations
The Student Services Center Building (Building 2) suffered significant flood damage. As a result all of the Student Services operations previously operating out of Building 2 were quickly re-established on the second floor of the Student
Life Center in available conference center and meeting room space. Very recently the Advising and Retention Center and the Testing Center were relocated from the Student Life Center to the newly recovered first floor of
Building 10. This move allowed for the other Student Services operations to expand in the Student Life Center, as well as to provide more space for both the advising and testing operations for the campus.
Also located and flooded in Building 2, were various Technology Division programs, classrooms and offices, whose operations have been relocated to available space in unaffected Buildings 1 and 22. The College’s Ship Simulator facility, which was also housed in Building 2, was severely damaged by the hurricane. The facility was swiftly established in a new location on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville in a leased facility at 675 North
Causeway Blvd. The Radar School, which partially operated in Building 2 as well as in Building 9 prior to Hurricane Katrina, was severely affected but now fully operates in this donated temporary space in Mandeville.
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The Delgado Horticulture Program was also heavily damaged by flood water in
Building 2 and in its nearby commercial-size greenhouse. To date, the program has been re-established and is fully operating in its recovered greenhouse facilities.
City Park Campus Buildings 2 and 32 Childcare Recovery of Operations
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the City Park Campus operated t wo Children’s
Centers, one for infants and another for toddlers that provided a lab opportunity for the early childhood education program. This also offered daycare opportunities for students and employees on an available basis. As both of these children centers were located in flood-damaged Buildings 2 and Building 32, the
College has pursued grant funding to bring back these facilities. Delgado has received a grant of $1.5 million from the Katrina Foreign Contributions Fund to build a new facility by 2009-2010 in the current location of severely damaged
Buildings 33 and 36.
City Park Campus Building 10 Services Recovery of Operations
The Math Department faculty offices, classroom and tutorial labs located on the first floor of City Park Campus’ Building 10 have been recovered and renovated to its pre-Katrina status, offering the same services and facilities space for these operations. The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Technology, formerly located on the first floor of Building 10, was significantly flood damaged by Hurricane Katrina. This operation offered students opportunities for convenient computer lab facilities. Shortly after the College re-opened following the hurricane, arrangements were made to provide open student labs in a converted lab facility on the third floor of Building 1, a building that suffered little damage.
The Graphic Arts offices, classrooms, and computer lab that were wind damaged on the second floor of Building 10 are also back in pre-Katrina operation. The facilities of the college-wide Office of Information Technology, also located on the second floor of Building 10, did not suffer significant hurricane damage and have been returned to their regular City Park Campus operations.
City Park Campus General Classroom Buildings 8 and 9 Recovery of Operations
Two smaller general classroom buildings
– Building 8 and 9 - were severely flood-damaged by the hurricane. To address the need for more available classroom space after the hurricane, the College began implementing a more efficient space utilization of available classrooms in buildings that were not severely affected. These general classrooms include those available in Building
1, Building 22, and the second floor of Building 10.
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Also partially operating in Building 9 prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Radar School facilities in Building 9 now fully operate in Mandeville, Louisiana, in freely donated temporary space at 675 North Causeway Boulevard as part of the
College’s Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training Facility programs.
City Park Campus Building 7 Recovery of Operations
Prior to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the Moss Memorial Library located in
Building 7 on the City Park Campus had approximately 123,000 volumes and included a large selection magazines indexes, pamphlets, media materials and newspapers. The facility provided seating for 296 users in areas such as the media lab, a recreational reading area, conference room, group study room, general study area, study carrels, computer areas and periodicals room. Also included were an audio visual storage area, general stacks and reference collections, a Louisiana collection, photocopying area, and library faculty offices in public and technical services areas. A complete description of damages to
City Park Campus library holdings appears in the FEMA Project Worksheet
Documents on the College's DocuShare Intranet site. These documents will be available for review by the SACS on-site team.
The City Park Campus library’s temporary location in Building 10 houses over
22,000 volumes and a wide selection of magazines , media materials, and newspapers to provide resources for the educational needs of students. The current library facility, with 6700 square feet, provides seating for 55 users in the general study area, reference, and periodicals rooms. Additional features include circulation, reserves, audio visuals, general stacks and reference collections, photocopying area, and library faculty offices in public and technical service areas. A schematic of the City Park Campus library is available in the
Administrative Office of the library.
Also located in Building 7, the Television Production Program offices, studio and equipment endured devastating damage due to the hurricane. In order to accommodate the program’s students and operations, the program now rents space at the Louisiana Technical College East Jefferson Campus. Likewise the
Campu s’s Media Services offices and equipment also were damaged in Building
7. To address the media services needs for the City Park Campus, as well as to strengthen its technical media offerings, the Media Services department has been combined into the Office of Information Technology and now operates out of the second floor of Building 10.
Lastly, the Foreign Language Lab, which too was located in the flooded Building
7, has been relocated to available space on the first and second floors of Building
1, which endured little damage.
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City Park Campus Buildings 33 and 36 Workforce Development Recovery of
Operations
The operations of the Workforce Development and Education Office, as well as the Office of Community Outreach, were significantly damaged in Buildings 33 and 36. These offices now operate out of the College’s leased temporary facilities at 2703 General DeGaulle on the west bank of the Mississippi River, at the Delgado Gretna Site, as well as in available unaffected space in Building 11 on the City Park Campus.
City Park Campus Building 37 Administrative Offices Recovery of Operations
The College’s central administrative offices were located in Building 37 (the
O’Keefe Administration Building) on the City Park Campus. As this building was also flooded, temporary administrative offices have been established at 2703
General DeGaulle on the west bank of the Mississippi River. This leased temporary facility houses nearly all administrative departments formerly located in Building 37, including the Chanc ellor’s Office and all departments under its direct supervision, as well as the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Business and
Administrative Affairs and all departments under its direct supervision. The administrative departments under the direct supervision of the Vice Chancellor for Learning and Student Development have been relocated to available space in the unaffected Buildings 1 and 4.
Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training Center
The Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training Center, located in New Orleans East at
13200 Old Gentilly Road on approximately five acres of land, was significantly affected by wind and flood hurricane damage. The College has been successful in fully recovering the buildings and property at this location. This site is owned by the College and provides over 8,600 square feet of usable and consists of classrooms, training facilities, and office space.
In addition, following the hurricane, the Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training
Center expanded its operations into a second location in freely donated temporary space in Mandeville, Louisiana, at 675 North Causeway Boulevard.
West Bank Campus
The West Bank Campus of Delgado Community College is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River and consists of four buildings and approximately
86,003 square feet of floor space. The campus is situated on 11.24 landscaped acres. Fortunately, this campus was not significantly affected by Hurricane
Katrina, and all facilities remain fully operational. In January 2000, a $4 million project was completed, consisting of classrooms, auditorium, faculty offices, bookstore, student services areas, and HVAC plant. A modular faculty office building with a classroom was completed in 2003 at a cost of approximately
$420,000. Additionally, a new library was built in a former vocational-technical building for approximately $275,000. Computers, a study area, and additional stack space enhance this modern facility, which gives students access to a wide
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variety of information. Presently, plans are being formulated for a new Student
Life Center, and an Allied Health Building/General Classroom Building for the
West Bank Campus.
Charity School of Nursing Campus
The campus of the Charity School of Nursing sits on approximately two acres of land in downtown New Orleans at 450 S. Claiborne Avenue. The Charity School of Nursing building consists of eight stories, with two floors for parking. There is approximately 121,450 square feet of floor space in this building. There is a basement that contains pumps for hot and cold water.
Hurricane Katrina flooded the basement of the building, which temporarily debilitated the heating and cooling operations of the building. However, immediate efforts were made to restore its power plant operations and the building soon became near fully operational shortly after the hurricane. Prior to the hurricane, a back-up emergency power generator had been installed at this location. New sprinklers also had been installed, and all fire alarms had been brought up to code. The building did endure some minor wind damage on other floors, which affected some of the buildings contents. These contents have nearly been all replaced to date.
Northshore/Covington Slidell Site
The Slidell site on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain consists of a leased building of approximately 16,098 square feet with ample off-street parking at 320
Howze Beach Road in Slidell, Louisiana. The building consists of 12 classrooms and additional office space for faculty and staff. The building interior is maintained by the College, while the exterior is maintained through a lease agreement with the owner. This facility has been leased for over fourteen years.
The entire facility received several feet of flood water following Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed all of the building’s contents. The building’s owner immediately restored the building’s facility within several months. As a result, the College was successful in reopening this site’s full operations only five months after the hurrican e. To date the site’s library, office, and classroom contents have nearly all been replaced.
Northshore/Covington Site
The Northshore/Covington Site, located at 207 E. Lockwood Street on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain in the city of Covington, was not significantly affected by Hurricane Katrina and remained operational following the storm.
Consisting of classrooms and office space, this building was added several years ago as a satellite site to address the educational needs of the surrounding northshore communities.
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Gretna Site
The Gretna site, located on the west bank of the Mississippi River at 1900
Lafayette Street, is a shared facility with the Jefferson Parish One Stop Shop.
This facility of approximately 3,475 square feet of floor space is leased from
Jefferson Parish. Here the College provides classroom and training services, as well as space for faculty and staff offices. This site endured some wind damage, which temporarily hindered the site’s operations. The Gretna site is now fully operational and nearly all of its contents have been restored to date.
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