REDMOND, OR -- Deschutes County's Oregon State University Extension Service is expanding. A ceremonial groundbreaking takes place Tuesday afternoon on a new 5,188 square-foot building, next to the current OSU-Extension facility at the county fairgrounds in Redmond.
County leader Candy Bothum says the project includes a horticulture lab, conference room, teaching kitchen and classrooms, "We are really short on classroom space, and we also have several staff members that are farmed out, if you will, to other locations on the fairgrounds, and other places; and so this is a way to be more efficient, and also meet our space needs that we're lacking." Bothum tells KBND News, "This is a project that's been going on for about 10 years."
The groundbreaking ceremony starts at 3 p.m. near Building Four. "We'll go out and turn over a little dirt as we break ground, and then just an opportunity to visit, and be able to answer some questions about the project, and just be a part of the beginning." She says attendees will be able to view plans for the building at the event. "We're going to start construction here very soon and so the [community] input will be questions and answers about either what extension does and what now we're more capable of doing, or just about the facility itself." She expects construction will take about seven months.
