The fountain within the sunken garden in the center of the Kellogg circle drive in front of Plumb Hall, is currently undergoing renovations to improve its function.
“The fountain has been broken for awhile now and the cost of repairing what was there made us take a look at what our other options might be,” said Richard Jensen, physical plant utilities manager.
The fountain was originally built in 1934 before undergoing renovations in 1978. The overall age of the system and the pumps had quit working, stopping the fountain from functioning properly, according to Jensen.
“We’re making several changes to the fountain,” Jensen said. “We took out the big boulders and made it shallower, going from 41 inches deep to 20 inches. We’re trying to take it back to the look it would have had in 1930’s. We’ve also made it easier to maintain and clean and an open spray fountain.”
The project to renovate the fountain is a joint effort between the university’s physical staff and Evergreen, a local design and build contractor.
Chad Elliott, an Evergreen employee, was sandblasting the fountain on Sunday, Aug. 21 and said they are trying to make the fountain more modern, equipment wise, and beautiful.
“The fountain will run three seasons, spring, summer and fall,” Jensen said. “The new design will allow us to move the fountain itself out during the winter time.”
$6,500 is being spent on renovating and making the small modifications needed to get the fountain running again, according to Jensen.
“I think there could be better uses for the money then renovating the fountain,” said Jessica Carrilo, senior biology major. “The funding could go to other departments that maybe need a little more attention.”
Along with renovating the fountain, the physical plant’s workers are building a new plaza with information by Silent Joe, a new parking lot across from Beach Music Hall, a band observation platform by the practice field and several other projects within every building on campus of various size, according to Jensen.
“We’re hoping to have it up and operational by September 15,” Jensen said. “Just in time for inauguration.”
