The announcement was made Wednesday at the campus by State Sen. Nathan Dean of Rockmart.
Sen. Dean said Gov. Roy Barnes was expected to sign the legislation very soon and plans for the structure could then go forward.
Joe Knighten, vice president of operations and director of the Polk campus, said plans for the new center were only in the preliminary stages. However, the new facility is expected to add 25,000 square feet to the facility with seven new classrooms and a multi purpose-training lab for different types of industry to use.
The new center, which is expected to be a freestanding structure, will also include a cosmetology school and a dental assistant school.
Once the school gets access to the funds, it can then start contracting the work out for the new structure.
Knighten said it was too early to say when the facility would be completed but the new structure could possibly be let for bids later this year with construction beginning early next year or in the spring of 2002.
Once construction starts, it will likely take a year to complete, Knighten said.
The center will primarily serve as an incubator for new and existing industry for Polk County, but mainly to bring new industries to the area, he said.
In opening remarks, Sen. Dean said the Polk campus was one of the best additions to this area in many years. “It allows people to become better employees who don’t want to pursue a career that is college related,” he said.
“It also helps people who want to learn to read, something that many of us take for granted. There are many grandmothers and grandfathers who can now go to the local library and enjoy reading that was not possible before these type schools were built,” he explained.
The state of Georgia had educated 163,000 students at its 33 technical colleges through the years, Dean explained.
The Polk campus of Coosa Valley Technical College is one of two satellite campuses of Coosa Valley Technical College in Rome. The other campus is located in Gordon County.
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