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Craig — Colorado Northwestern Community College officials are planning to move forward with three change orders while postponing a fourth.

The CNCC board was scheduled to host a special meeting Monday to vote on a proposed change order to a city-mandated extension of Ninth Street on a 100-parcel west of Craig where both CNCC and TMH plan to build new facilities.

Recent geotechnical studies conducted by NorthWest Colorado Consultants indicated that the water under the proposed roadway was wet and could destabilize the planned thoroughfare.

Subsurface water also has been detected on other parts of the parcel.

John Boyd, CNCC president, said previously that installing a drainage system to remove water from the property could cost up to $40,000.

However, college officials called off the board meeting, Boyd said, and chose instead to wait for further geotechnical studies to determine their next step.

"I don't want to take it to the board until we really know what we're doing," Boyd said.

"We want to give it a couple weeks to dry out," he said, adding that NorthWest Colorado Consultants engineers are scheduled to revisit the site later this week.

In the meantime, the college is planning to go ahead with work on other projects required by the city, which include installing an additional fire hydrant and relocating a telephone pole.

Boyd estimated that city-mandated projects will cost an additional $20,000.

City Engineer Bill Earley was unavailable for comment Monday.

Another $3,500 will pay for a ditch to move excess water off the property, Boyd said.

"That is really not affecting the road," he said, "but we want to get (the water) out of there so when we start building, they can get it to dry out some."

Going forward with those change orders, which are estimated to cost about $23,500 total, won't require approval from the CNCC board. At its monthly meeting June 30, the board voted to approve additional work that totaled up to $35,000, or roughly 5 percent of the road extension's estimated $691,000 cost.

However, if the situation pans out the way Boyd predicts it would, that situation could change.

The price of a fourth change order for removing water from the planned roadway would be lumped with the first three, Boyd said.

Any added expense totaling more than $11,500 would tip the change order package over the 5 percent mark and would therefore require board approval.

The final change order could cost up to $20,000.

Nevertheless, college officials are waiting for further studies before making their decision.

Boyd said several circumstances could cause excess water on the property.

"It could be a wet year : (or) it could be a pocket" of water, Boyd said.

"We don't know any of that until the (geotechnical engineer) goes back and finishes the evaluation and figures out what we need to do."