Alpena Community College is beginning work on a next-generation climbing range that will give Utility Technology students a dedicated place to train as future utility linemen.
The concept design was presented Thursday during an ACC Board of Trustees meeting. The planned range will be built just south of the college’s solar array along Woodward Avenue, where it will use steel training towers, utility poles and a substation to replicate the equipment students will encounter in the field.
A grant-funded training site
ACC has received $3.125 million from the United States Economic Development Administration for the project. The college has five years to use the grant funds, according to Dawn Stone, ACC’s dean of workforce development.
“So we've got plenty of time and it’s really going to be a fairly quick project once it gets rolling,” Stone said.
The concept was developed by Progressive Companies, a design, engineering and architecture firm. The plan includes a parking lot, a garage and classroom space, two security gates and a gravel drive made with ADA-accessible gravel. The climbing range would extend south from the classroom and garage area.
Locating the project near the existing solar array will allow the college to use the same parking lot. Stone said the site will create a concentrated training area for electric utility work.
“We decided to put it just to the south of the solar array we can capitalize on using the same parking lot,” Stone said.
Faculty members were closely involved in shaping the concept and will remain heavily engaged as planning continues. The grant also will fund a new bucket truck. ACC’s current bucket trucks are not large enough for use on steel utility poles.
Utility challenges at the Woodward Avenue site
Because Alpena’s water, sewer and gas lines do not run north of the railroad tracks on Woodward Avenue, the planned classroom and garage building will need its own well and septic tank. The building will use electric heat.
“Hopefully it's temporary, hopefully down the road in a few years we will be able to tap into the city system, ideally, but currently we have a solution, which is, at the moment, the most important thing,” Stone said.
Other ACC decisions and updates
Trustees also discussed the search for ACC’s next president. Trustee Joe Gentry proposed sending a survey to trustees to help define the qualities they want in the next leader. Current President Don MacMaster plans to retire in December 2027.
The board heard campus updates from students Carter Kosinski and Bella Lear, including a campus cookout, a welcome-back bash and a future laser tag event. Humanities Department Chair Sven Peasall also gave an update on his department.
MacMaster reported that ACC’s headcount, credit hours and contact hours are all higher than in fall 2025. The college also received a $3 million Strengthening Institutions Program grant spread over five years. That funding will support a substation technician certificate program, renovation of the Natural Resources Center lecture hall, installation of two “classrooms of tomorrow” and other work.
Trustees approved a local strategic value resolution, which the college adopts annually to receive state funding tied to performance and best-practice standards. They also approved a three-year, $48,750 purchase of Mongoose’s Admissions AI texting platform, which will provide applicants with two-way conversational support throughout the admissions process, 24 hours a day.