HUMBER COLLEGE student Michelle Kenny shows how Humber's Orangeville campus is going to look by 2010, as part of the Home and Lifestyles exposition at the Fairgrounds Sunday. Photo/WES KELLER Three years after plans were announced for its new campus on the western outskirts of Orangeville, Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning has released sketches of the site on Veterans Way and the planned structures.

Plans for the campus were announced in the fall of 2005, when it was expected that construction would be under way in 2006.

However, financing and other problems stood in the way of an early start, and Humber opted instead to get temporary quarters in Orangeville's Alder Street Recreation Centre.

A year ago, Humber announced that it had fulfilled the provincial government's environmental requirements and would be proceeding with the actual designing and building of the site.

"It has taken over a year to finalize the environmental studies, but we finally received the approval to move ahead to the next phase," said Joe Andrews, director of community relations for the Orangeville campus, adding:

Humber has committed to building a full-service campus, starting in the spring of 2008."

But "proposed timelines" released with the sketches last weekend were vague, calling for site preparation to start either this fall or next spring and construction to take place between the summer of 2009 and 2010, with "phase #1 occupancy" in the fall of 2010.

The document predicted an initial student population of 600, rising ultimately to about 2,000.

The sketches show a network of streets on the hilltop site, which will offer a great view of the town to the east, and a complex of four multistorey buildings that will contain offices, classrooms and core services.

The first phase of construction is to involve a 20,000- square foot building which a year ago was to be open by September, 2009.

The second phase includes construction of the other two buildings, plus creation of green space and walking trails, a playing field and possibly a residence.

Last year, Mr. Andrews said completion of the second phase was expected to be achieved by 2011 or 2012.

The new campus will allow Humber to expand its programs, the direction depending, as is the case with many colleges and universities, on the economic base of the region.

"Any economic activity that's developing in this region will certainly make Humber look into possible curriculum development," Mr. Andrews said in an interview last October.

Much of the credit for Humber selecting Orangeville for its third campus is due Wendy Morley, who years ago noticed a shortage of adults between the ages of 18 and 35 in Orangeville, decided someone should do something about providing educational opportunities to keep them here, and nominated herself as that person.

"People stay here until they finish high school, move away for (post secondary) school, then move back to raise a family. I think this is detrimental to the community," she said in a December 2005 interview. "How can a community be whole if it's missing a fifth of its population? People in their 20s are vibrant and exciting. They make things happen."

Wendy said she thought about it for a couple of years and then, one day in the spring of 2003 "I had an epiphany. The town needed a college or university. This would bring the youth back, provide nonmarket based jobs, provide help and incentive for local industry, and help support small businesses."

Two years later, with the entrepreneurial help and cooperation of Doc Gillies and the political support of then mayor Drew Brown and Orangeville bureaucrats, she attained her goal and receipt, along with the Town, of a Humber College "strategic alliance" award.

She said she approached Mr. Gillies because someone had told her he probably owned or controlled at least one tract that would be suited to a college campus. Although he didn't have such a tract, he worked with her to find such a site.

She had considered Georgian College as a candidate because it already had an Orangeville presence, but it wasn't ready for such a move.

On a hunch, she phoned Humber president Robert

Gordon, who initially wasn't certain about the location, except for the fact that Humber was thinking of expanding somewhere. After a few interviews, and an outline of the property that might be available, he began to favour Orangeville as the "somewhere."

Wendy gave much of the credit to lucky timing, but also says Mr. Gillies remained with her throughout all the meetings that led to realization of the dream. And she gave a lot of credit to Orangeville Council and town hall staff for obtaining the 28 acres and rezoning those for development of the college.