SCCC campus to get new gym

Funding for a $17 million health and fitness center at Suffolk County Community College’s eastern campus in Northampton will be included in the county’s 2011 capital budget.

County Executive Steve Levy vetoed nearly $40 million in budget amendments Monday, including $30 million for improvements at the community college’s three campuses, but the county Legislature voted Tuesday to override that veto.

Construction on the new facility, of which the state is expected to pay half the cost, is slated for 2013, said Legislature William Lindsay (D-Holbrook).

“Our colleges are bursting at the seams,” Mr. Lindsay said Wednesday. He said improved infrastructure at the college campuses is greatly needed in the poor economy as attendance has swelled. There are currently more than 24,000 students enrolled at the college.

“It is the best bang for your buck,” he said.

Mr. Levy said the upgrades at the college are unnecessary as the school was never intended to have three state-of-the-art gymnasiums at its separate campuses.

“It is beyond our means to have a third gym and a third $15 million library within this system,” Mr. Levy said in a release, referring to the eastern campus, and a new library at the Grant campus in Brentwood, which is also included under the plan. “We must look at Suffolk Community College as a single college with satellite divisions.”

VERA CHINESE