West County faculty village will be located in Lakeshore subdivision outside Prescott Valley in project being developed by the Prescott based Fain Signature Group; College says it intends to initially purchase, own and operate  ten manufactured homes for the faculty who will rent them “temporarily;” students may occupy the new homes if faculty don’t rent them

The Yavapai Community College Governing Board is anticipated to approve an investment at its May meeting of an estimated $3.4 million to create a village for the West County faculty working at  the Prescott Campus and centers on that side of Mingus Mountain.  The faculty village will be located in the Lakeshore subdivision just outside Prescott Valley.  (See video link by clicking here where Prescott-based executive explains the project.)

According to the information supplied to the Governing Board at its April 11 meeting, the new faculty village will act as “temporary” faculty  housing, although “temporary” was not clearly defined in any great detail. (Representative Kuknyo did emphasize there were to be used on a temporary basis by faculty.”  The College said that if faculty do not rent the homes, it will open them to students.

The decisions and discussion regarding construction of the village was kept totally secret from Yavapai County residents until the April 11 meeting. The County taxpayers will be paying for it in their annual primary property taxes. 

What alternatives, if any, the Governing Board was given by the College rather than investing in a permanent faculty village are unknown as that information remains a carefully guarded secret.

It is also unknown whether the Governing Board considered setting up a rental agreement with the Fain Signature Group that would not have entailed a permanent investment.  The Fain Group, for example, is just completing a 329 apartment community in Prescott Valley that could be used for “temporary housing” of Prescott based faculty.   

Below is a housing statement contained in the 2022 Community College Master Plan with the photo of the housing project at San Mateo College.

Clayton Company has a modular manufactured home development in Chino Valley; apparently interested in Clarkdale area of the Verde Valley

According to a brief report made to the Governing Board  October 19 by Yavapai District Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland, a meeting was held earlier in the month in Clarkdale with a variety  of people to discuss the interest that the Clayton Company may have in meeting the need for student residence halls and affordable faculty and staff housing in the Verde Valley.

The list of persons attending the meeting included:  Clarkdale mayor  Robyn Prud’homme-Bauer; Yavapai Community College President  Dr. Lisa Rhine,  Yavapai Community College Vice President of Community Relations and Student Development, Rodney Jenkins; Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland; Richard Hernandez, Director of the Regional Economic Development Center;  representation from the Verde Valley Regional Economic Organization; and representation  from the Clayton Company. 

The Verde Valley Campus Dean, Dr. Tina Redd, and the Verde Valley Governing Board Representative from District three, which encompasses the Sedona Center and the Verde Valley Campus, Paul Chevalier, were not at the Clarkdale meeting. The Community College representatives present at the meeting are all from  the Prescott/Prescott Valley area.

Ms. McCasland reported to the Board that she discussed with the Clayton Company and the assembled group the “need for student housing, and the need for accessible housing for faculty and staff in the Verde Valley.”  She said that “they took the information and will get back to us.”  Dr. Rhine did not include any comment on this meeting when she gave her President’s report to the Governing Board on Tuesday, October 19.

The Clayton Company has a development in Chino Valley, Arizona. It specializes in  manufactured and modular homes. Chair McCasland indicated that the Clayton Company may have a development “near our campus  in Clarkdale.”

The Verde Campus in Clarkdale  has around  80 acres of prime real estate that is undeveloped. The College has not expanded its 13 acre vineyard into these acres and has recently constructed its CTE facility on a raised stone plaza rather than build it on the 80 acres, which some argue would have allowed for easy expansion.  The College  currently has announced no plans to create a solar farm to reduce energy consumption on the Verde Campus or to use the vacant acres  for any other purpose. 

A video clip of Chair McCasland’s report to the Governing Board appears below.

Issues make it challenging to hire faculty, attract students

According to data gathered and reported to the District Governing Board in November by Tom Hughes, Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research, the  Community College is facing a problem of attracting faculty and students in part because of the high cost of housing in the County and low household income. The combination presents significant headwinds negatively affecting student and labor force recruitment. 

Yavapai County’s median household income of 48.3 thousand dollars  is 5.2 thousand  below the Arizona median household income and 9.4 thousand  below the national median. The following graph, presented by Mr. Hughes to the Governing Board, shows the difference in median income.

The Phoenix area is almost 11 percent less expensive than the Prescott-Prescott Valley region. The primary driving factor is housing costs.  As the graph below, presented to the Governing Board shows, housing in this area is much more expensive than in Phoenix.

You may view Mr. Hughes comments about housing and the income made to the Governing Board in the video below.