Corban is now a 140-acre campus.
Well, 142 ½ acres, to be exact.
On Jan. 16, Kevin Brubaker, vice president of Business, announced via employee-wide email that the process to acquire 40 acres from the state was complete.
In the email, Brubaker described the locations of the three newly-acquired areas: “The additional property is a small sliver on the Southwest part of our property, a piece of property right between Aumsville Highway and Joseph Street, and the last bit that we have been working on is just east of our athletic fields.”
Brubaker said the process involved Corban, the Oregon Department of Corrections, Marion County and several donors who contributed to the purchase and covered the cost.
Brubaker said each of the three parcels purchased had a separate agreement, consisting of details about technical coordinates, a description of the land purchases, and the prices of the three areas. Meetings were held to discuss the property line adjustment.
When elaborating on the purpose and possibilities of the three areas of land, Brubaker said the south parcel will probably turn into a road to the gym.
“It likely won’t happen within the next five years,” Brubaker said about the timeline.
The parcel east of the athletic fields was from the State of Oregon, Brubaker said. He added that it might be used as an extension of the athletic fields, and he mentioned the possibility of allowing track, field and cross country students to use the land for practice.
Joshua Austring, a sprinter for track and field and member of the cross country team, noted the benefits of having more land for practice.
“Having more land to practice can allow us to have more unity in our practice and just in general,” Austring said. “Hopefully, we wouldn’t have to use the bus as often and go our own ways.”
Austring also discussed the potential benefits regarding recruitment.
“Having our own space and better facilities would be more appealing to potential recruits,” he said.
Regarding the 15 acres on the other side of Aumsville, near Joseph, the purpose is still to be determined, Brubaker said.
Looking into future possibilities, Brubaker said more fundraising and money-raising would be required to get more land.
“We’re not done. As God provides, we’ll get more,” Brubaker said. “We continue to dream about what God will do on our campus.”
Student Valerie McCall acknowledged the possibility of Corban acquiring more land, but also noted an aspect she appreciates about having a smaller campus.
“I think the land purchase is good for Corban in general, especially if the track and cross country teams had more facilities to practice,” she said. “But I would miss the small campus atmosphere if Corban expanded exponentially.”
Brubaker said the process to purchase the three parcels of land goes back to 2009, when Reno Hoff was president of Corban.
“President Hoff was very much a visionary and looked at what Corban can be,” Brubaker said.
When discussing why the land was purchased, Brubaker said the reasoning went beyond expansion.
“We saw special reasons, more than the land being offered at a good price,” he said. “We saw possibilities.”
