NEW PORT RICHEY - With a state Legislature agreeing to a $3.6-million outlay this week, Pasco-Hernando Community College plans to begin designing an expanded library at its Ridge Road campus.
The money is a second installment - the college got $2-million last year - on the library remodeling project that could double its size, PHCC spokeswoman Lynn Rothman Venus said Wednesday.
The state also agreed to give PHCC $3-million to remodel and renovate Building G, one of the main classroom/office complexes on the west campus. Construction is scheduled to start on the classroom and library projects next year.
Another $729,437 from the state would go toward "roofs, underground utilities, fire safety" and other improvement projects.
The college is holding out for two more multimillion-dollar installments from the state in the next two years.
The money would pay for a University Center to house a bachelor's degree program PHCC has coordinated with several four-year colleges and universities.
Larger and newer buildings are considered vital to PHCC, where enrollment swelled in August to 6,333 full- and part-time students, an increase of 34.7 percent from the previous year.
