New utility systems installations scheduled for Academy housing

  • Published
  • By Amber Baillie
  • Academy Spirit staff writer
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The Air Force Academy will begin installing new gas and electrical systems in Academy Housing this month to upgrade infrastructure more than 50 years old.

Colorado Springs Utilities will begin construction Jan. 14 through 2014 on all 668 home units available for rent here starting at Pine Valley and onto Douglass Valley.

CSU and Air Force Academy Military Communities will connect all housing units to the new distribution systems as part of an on-going effort to make privatized housing more affordable, said Lt. Col. Patrick Carley, 10th Civil Engineer Squadron commander.

"The Academy signed up to the $5.2 million upgrade in an effort to provide more reliable utilities to our housing residents, making the Academy an even better place to live," Carley said.

The current systems were installed when the homes were originally built in the 1960s, and have not been significantly upgraded since, Carley said.

"The biggest perk to residents will be (fewer) outages," said Gregory Long, chief of the 10th Civil Engineer Squadron's Asset Management Division. "The existing systems are simply beyond their life expectancy, and replacement parts are hard to find. All new systems will have state-of-the-art components and be installed to meet current codes."

CSU will work with AFAMC on notifying residents at least two weeks in advance when construction crews will be in each neighborhood, Carley said.

"The current plan calls for CSU to complete a housing loop and cluster before moving onto the next," Carley said. "This first phase of construction will not require any outages other than a road lane closure."

Long said during the first three weeks of construction, new gas and electrical mains and service lines will be installed in all housing loops. He said once all distribution systems are in place, final connections to each house will occur.

"This may be several months from the initial install," Long said. "Until that time, utilities will be provided from the existing system, owned and operated by AFAMC."

Long said CSU will own and operate the new systems. He said the goal is for base residents to receive the same service and reliability from CSU as residents living downtown.

"This will mean reduced spending by the government to own and operate these utilities and we'll be tapping into a much larger workforce with a greater maintenance and emergency response capability at no additional charge," Long said.

Carley said other developments for privatized housing are still to come including the demolition of the 280 vacant units in Pine Valley along with 16 units in Douglass Valley near the Airmen's Attic.

"Demolishing the vacant housing units is a top priority of Academy leadership," Carley said. "Approximately 240 housing units will remain in Pine Valley for the foreseeable future as a condition of the privatized housing restructuring effort, and AFAMC is planning on making some improvements to these units as funds become available."