OPM also conducted a cost analysis that indicated it would cost $72.2 million to consolidate the college on the Mohegan Campus on Mahan Drive and $71.3 million to consolidate it at the college's Thames Valley Campus on New London Turnpike.

That is nearly $10 million more than the $62 million the state bonded for the project when it was originally proposed in the mid-1990s.

President excited

Three Rivers President Grace Jones said Thursday she was very excited with the prospect that after seven years and 10 studies, the planning and siting stage for the consolidation of the college is nearly complete.

"I believe that we have three legs on the stool now: the board of trustees, the Department of Public Works commissioner and, now, OPM. That is a pretty sturdy stool," she said.

The 18-page report evaluated several studies done over the past eight years that consider a dozen sites that have been proposed for the community college's consolidation, including three downtown.

The developer of two of the proposed downtown sites was not pleased with the report and said it was based on faulty or incomplete information.

The lead developer with the Chelsea Community Development Group, Ronald Aliano, said he would meet with the governor's Chief of Staff Dean Pagani next week and present him with information a former chief of staff requested regarding the harbor-side consolidation proposal.

"We expected it to be a negative report regarding the downtown site. I'm very disappointed that OPM never made contact with us regarding our proposal. But we look forward to meeting with Dean and, hopefully, the governor next week to clarify some information," Aliano said.

According to the OPM report, the Chelsea group's $62 million proposal to consolidate the college along Norwich Harbor between Chelsea Harbor Drive and Water Street did not leave enough room for future expansion and required the state to lease 27,000-square-feet in a building not yet constructed.

OPM also referred to another study that said the downtown area would benefit more from commercial development and that the proposal itself was "physically unworkable."

No surprise

Mayor Arthur Lathrop received a call from Pagani at 9:45 a.m. Thursday informing him of the study's conclusion and said the OPM recommendation came as no surprise.

"Norwich sites are clearly preferred. We recognize that the OPM analysis is only, however, a recommendation and look forward to the governor's final resolution of this important matter," the mayor said.

Director of Communications Christopher Cooper said the report is meant to assist the state community college board of trustees in making its decision.

"The Thames Valley campus remains one of the two preferred sites and the report indicates that OPM will support the trustees' decision to consolidate at either site," Cooper said. "This project has been amply studied and we're hopeful a final decision can be made soon."

Kathy Noll, 24, a accounting student at Three Rivers said, "It would be better consolidated. I'm graduating, and since I've gone to school here, I think I've only had one class that was at the Thames Valley campus, the rest have been here, but it would cut down on travel time to have everything on one campus."

In December 2001, the State Community Colleges Board of Trustees voted to recommend that the Thames Valley site be the location of consolidation, pending the outcome of environmental and traffic studies.

At that time, it was thought that a Mohegan Campus project would be too costly.

After reviewing costs, despite the fact the Mahan Drive campus will require a retention pond to alleviate drainage problems, structured parking and improvements to the road, the Mohegan Campus was considered the best candidate because it can accommodate growth and has fewer residential neighbors.

Renovating the existing state-owned buildings and adding onto the Mahan Drive campus also will take two years less than similar work done at Thames Valley.

Jones was especially pleased with the proposal to consolidate on Mahan Drive because of the time factor, which, it is estimated, would save the state $170,000 per month.

State Rep. Peter Nystrom, R-Norwich, said he is pleased that it appears definite that the college will remain in Norwich -- previous reports evaluated sites in Preston and the former Norwich Hospital.

The representative also said if the college is consolidated at the Mohegan Campus, it will free up the Thames Valley Campus and enable the technical high school next door to expand into the former college buildings.

The Thames Valley proposal would mean the high school would relocate to Mahan Drive once the Mohegan Campus students started classes on New London Turnpike.

Either plan means it will cost $50 million to prepare the vacated buildings to accommodate the high school, according to the OPM report