CATHY ALLRED - North County Staff | Posted: Friday, February 17, 2006 11:00 pm
Lehi residents may soon be able to gain a higher education in their own city.
Mountainland Applied Technology College administrators say the school has outgrown its north Utah County facility. They plan to open a campus in Lehi, eventually moving and expanding from the school's American Fork campus.
The move hinges on the Utah Legislature approving the funds for purchasing 22 acres just southeast of the Thanksgiving Point Golf Course clubhouse.
MATC Campus President Robert O. Brems presented the Lehi City Council with the plans at a recent work session. The council's response was positive.
Support in the Legislature looks positive as well, said Brems. The college's request is on the short list, and the funding has been a top priority in a subappropriations committee.
The campus could be open for students as soon as 2008 if the funds are approved for the purchase during this legislative session -- and if the money for building the facility is approved in the 2007 legislative session.
"We hope the Legislature will pave the way for this 75,000-square-foot project," he said. "At this point in time we are actually planning for it to eventually replace the one in American Fork, but there is some possibility that the American Fork campus would have something else, probably our transportation department."
The American Fork MATC campus has a 10-year lease agreement on its 3.9-acre property that expires in 2011. Programs they offer at the 49,000-square-foot complex are automotive technology, biotechnology, certified nurse assisting, cosmetology, emergency medical technician, medical assisting, A+/Linux computer technology and Web page design.
Those programs would be taught at the new campus and other courses would be added -- dental assisting, pharmacy technology, business office technology and licensed nurse practitioner, he said.
MATC has an Orem campus that serves students from Timpanogos, Mountain View, Orem, Timpview and Provo high schools, he said.
The Lehi campus would serve students in north Utah County and another campus is being built in Spanish Fork for Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson high schools.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.