Frederick Community College Facilities Master Plan Executive Summary ES-8 May, 2023 5. Campus Facilities: Current Campus Accessing the campus from Opossumtown Pike, a visitor may be struck by the carefully maintained landscape, buildings surrounded mostly by lawns interspersed with mostly deciduous trees, several of which are now mature, as is much of the now 66 year-old campus. The gently rolling grade allows relatively easy access to buildings via the network of asphalt and concrete sidewalks, although some routes are challenging for disabled individuals. (As part of the scope of work for this project, an ADA analysis was completed and produced as a separate document.) The original seven buildings as well as others completed in subsequent decades have created two very different quads, which would benefit from better definition. The exception rather than the rule, forested areas on the west side of the campus need to be protected and maintained as such. A drainage course cuts through the middle of the campus generally from west to east where it meets a large stormwater management dry pond adjacent to Opossumtown Pike, which appears to be functioning as designed. A combination of drainage by way of the landscape and storm water structures both below and at grade, it presents an opportunity to restore part of the natural environment. The campus roadway system beginning at Opossumtown Pike loops around most buildings and parking lots before returning to the public road; it is not a true ‘loop’ within the campus. Generally, parking lots are internal to the campus loop road, and pedestrian ways are mostly internal to both, connecting the parking lots to the buildings. Driveways, parking lots and sidewalks are generally asphalt, with some concrete paving. The approach via the main entrance driveway is not intuitive; a visitor must rely on signage to find their way to a parking lot convenient to their destination. Completed in 2015, campus signage is one of the systemic projects that has been criticized relative to location, readability, and wayfinding, and it could use another look. Infrastructure Systems The campus is improved with a network of utility infrastructure that appears to be of adequate capacity based on the documented size of utilities. The site is served by Frederick public water and sewer. The water line is looped through the campus, effectively providing redundancy. Potomac Edison provides electrical service by way of two service connections from Opossumtown Pike. Gas service from Washington Gas enters at the northern end of the campus. Originally built in 1994, the Central Plant delivers chilled and heating water serving most of the campus buildings. Major upgrades have been made from 2008-2017, and there is adequate capacity to continue to serve the same existing buildings. Electrical service also is routed through the Central Plant and Athletics Building. Telecommunications service enters the campus adjacent to the main driveway but has no redundancy. Telecommunications rooms in several buildings are not up to current IT standards. The data center is out of date and in need of modernization. The underground conduits system contains an abundance of unused cable which needs to be removed. The College needs to develop an approach and process to address disaster recovery plans as relating to the campus network, distribution,
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