Nic Dorm To Be Torn Down Building Cited For Numerous Building Code Violations
It’s not up to fire code. It’s dingy. The rooms are tiny.
But to 20-year-old Kevin Palmer and 55 other students, the dorm at North Idaho College is home.
Not for long.
The 35-year-old dorm will officially shut its doors Aug. 10 and will be razed soon after that, NIC interim president Ron Bell announced Thursday.
“It’s just a real shame to see the place go,” Palmer said as he sat on a bench outside the two-story gray and maroon building. “It has become more of a family than a place to live.”
Bell said he considered the dorm’s condition, age and $1 million price tag for remodeling before making the decision.
He said it will now be up to the board of trustees, the incoming president and others at the college to decide whether to rebuild the dorm or go without on-campus housing.
A building inspection last month found that a large number of smoke detectors are damaged or missing, a fire alarm does not work, an electrical panel in the boiler room is not covered, and the alarm system does not comply with federal guidelines for people with disabilities.
A report compiled by NIC administrators in April said, “This particular building doesn’t have the usual character of an older building. Rather, it simply looks old.”
The closure has incoming students and their parents scrambling for alternative housing.
“We’re frantically on the phone trying every avenue,” said Helen Rich, whose two daughters will travel from Payette to NIC this fall. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Rich said she has contacted a Coeur d’Alene church for help and is also awaiting more housing information from the college.
An architectural firm inspected the dorm in 1991 and found numerous code violations, including problems with ventilation, study space, energy usage and plumbing.
NIC officials have been debating since then whether to tear down the facility or remodel it.
A handful of staff members may lose their jobs when the dorm closes, but will likely be transferred to work at the new student center on campus, Bell said.
It is rare for community colleges to offer on-campus housing, and some students said the loss of the dorm may translate into a drop in students.
“I wouldn’t have come here if there wasn’t a dorm on campus,” said Jessica Miller, 19, from Livingston, Mont. “This is where we meet each other. It’s like one big family here.”