Phase 1 of Contra Costa College's Facilities Master Plan is under way and moving forward.
In 2006, Contra Costa County voters approved Measure A Plus, a bond that gave the district $286.5 million to do construction and renovations on the community college campuses.
CCC received $83 million, district Chief Facilities Planner Ray Pyle said, while Diablo Valley College received $65 million and Los Medanos College was granted $68 million.
Vice President Carol Maga said that the architect firm TBP was hired to work on Phase 1 over the summer. The contract, however, is in the process of being approved by the district Governing Board.
CCC's Facilities Master Plan is divided into five phases altogether and is expected to take anywhere from 10 to 15 years to complete.
"It will definitely be an extensive multiyear project," Maga said. "It is a major endeavor."
The few noticeable changes so far have been the new, uniform signs on each of the campus buildings and the reconstruction of the football field, which is due to be completed by February 2009, Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King said.
Additionally, Phase 1 of the Master Plan has plans to demolish and replace the Humanities Building and Student Activities Building, construct a new Classroom Building and entrance to the campus from Mission Bell Drive, and relocate the math department to the Applied Arts Building.
Pyle said there were also plans to renovate the Gym Annex Building, but due to the current state budget impasse in Sacramento, funds for the building were lost. The renovations will be delayed until the campus reapplies for funding.
"We're not exactly going according to the Master Plan as far as phases go, because some of the projects were to be paid for with different funds," Pyle said.
Maga also mentioned having to coordinate any state funds received.
In 2002, a separate Measure A was passed as well, designating $120 million to the district, with an estimated $45 million given to CCC.
The money was used to build the new Student Services Center and renovate the Library and Learning Resource Center.
Using the Measure A 2006 money, the Classroom Building is estimated to cost around $30 million and the Student Activities Building $20 million.
"We knew at the start we didn't have enough money, but we still wanted to go ahead and plan out as far as we could," Pyle said. "Once you build something, you are stuck with it so we needed to look at the entire campus and the long range plans, even without the funding."
The Humanities Building is expected to come down in 2009, with construction on the new Classroom Building starting soon afterward.
King said Buildings and Grounds is currently working with the architects to come up with the design for the building.
Before the building can come down, however, the Applied Arts Building has to be renovated in order to accommodate classes moving from the Humanities Building.
Another big project included in the Master Plan will be the new entrance to the campus.
The new entrance will allow traffic to come through a circle drop-off area and help eliminate traffic in the quad.
"One thing I've noticed is the quad is a little confusing in some areas. Depending on where you come from, it's a little bit of a maze and confusing for folks who are not familiar with the campus," King said.
Finally, King said there has been talk of fixing up and putting a new façade on the Automotive Technology Center to make it look more similar to the Computer Technology Center.
Due to seismic issues on campus, it is expected that CCC's demolition and construction plans will be more expensive than that of its sister colleges.
"When doing renovations you have to take seismic issues into account. Therefore, more money will be spent on the renovations," Pyle said.
Overall, however, there are high hopes and expectations for the Master Plan.
"We have arranged everything so that students won't have to worry about anything but being relocated," Maga said. "The outcome will be well worth any inconvenience."
Contact Regina Sarnicola at rsarnicola.advocate@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this article!