Santa Rosa Junior College

Administrative Services

Capital Project Planning Update #16

August 16, 2006

The following represents the late Summer, 2006 SRJC Facilities Planning Update:

1. Frank P. Doyle Library: Though some construction remains, the new library will open for the first day of school on Monday, August 21^st. SRJC staff are invited for a “wandering about” visit this Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The dedication ceremony is set for Friday, September 15^th at 2 p.m.

The completion and occupancy of this project is the culmination of several years of conceptual research and planning, focused program development and architectural and engineering design. It also represents a college community effort aimed at the production of a very beautiful building containing functional library, media services, academic computing, tutorial center and art gallery programs. Most importantly it has been designed to serve our students and faculty as well as our extended district-wide community. Because it is a collegiate library, it has gained a special importance to all of us who have worked on it. This is especially true for library planners such as Will Baty, Russ Bowden, Rich Abrahams, Jay Carpenter, Paul Bielen, Nancy Moorhead, Ken Fiori, Mike Flaa and all of my staff. As it nears completion and its opening, separately and collectively we realized the importance of the facility to the learning environment and that we were truly working on an edifice that should last and function well for one hundred years. Hence, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and on our colleagues to get it done and to have it done right. So many other JC departments (accounting, purchasing, campus police amongst several) have help make this a successful project and we extend our appreciation to you. We hope we have succeeded but probably won’t really know until we can ascertain its useful importance to our students and to our faculty who help create an environment of exploration and learning.

It took a lot of trust, courage and support on the part of the President, the various Boards of Trustees and, in particular, the cumulative membership of the Board Facilities Committee for the better part of the last two decades. Board Facilities members (Rick Call, Don Zumwalt and Bob Burdo), in particular deserve special thanks for their support, direction and trust that we could get this important facility built and for encouraging us to return to the SRJC’s architectural roots. More recently they have supported and initiated several environmentally friendly and energy conserving projects which should serve us and our environment well.

2. Petaluma Phase II: The initial site work is nearly complete as it relates to the first portion of the new parking lot, a temporary community pathway, underground utility lines and drains. In combination with the use of the church parking lot down the street, Petaluma will have in excess of 600 student parking spaces available. The maintenance compound is the first structure that will be constructed with several others to follow shortly afterward. The ground breaking ceremony has been scheduled for Wednesday, September 23^rd at 4 p.m.

3. Santa Rosa Multi-Level Parking Structure: The new parking structure should be available for use the 1^st day of school next January. The College has been receiving a number of expressions of positive interest from the students, community, and public entities who would like the facility available sooner than we can possibly comply. Interest seems to focus on the architectural style, how well it does fit in relation to Mendocino Avenue and that it neither overwhelms the street nor the campus nor adjacent high school. We have worked with the City to make some modifications on the softscape and hardscape in front of the structure and to have our covered bus stops returned. All of these are designed to make the pedestrian/public transit user a bit more comfortable in that area of the campus as well as, and most importantly, more user friendly to disabled students. The SRJC Oak Leaf emblems are currently being installed around the new facility.

4. Plover Hall Conversion Project: Bids are to be opened soon for the Plover Hall Conversion Project. This $10 million (70% local/30% State) project will rehabilitate and remodel Plover into a major student service center. Coupled with the plans for a new Student Center at the existing Doyle Center, Student Services will have 100,000 square feet of much needed student support space. The 14 month project should be completed and occupied near the end of 2007.

5. Warren G. Dutton Jr. Agriculture Pavilion: Construction should be completed in September. We are anticipating an afternoon dedication ceremony to occur in around or about November 1^st. There appears to be substantial interest in this facility both within and outside of the agricultural community and we would expect a rather substantial turnout for that dedication event.

6. New Student Center Project: The preliminary construction drawings are complete and the architect has been approved to proceed with design development/working drawings for the new three-level 70,000 sf facility. The Board Facilities Committee directed the architect to look at cost savings issues given the cost of construction is projected to escalate 12 to 15% during the course of the next six months. The CEQA Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration has been completed and the thirty day public review process will be completed on August 30^th. Two public review sessions were held and the response to the project seems quite favorable. It is anticipated the College will ask the Board to adopt the initial study and mitigated negative declaration (which means little mitigated or no negative impact on the environment) at its September meeting.

7. Bicycle Parking Project: Bids are due to open for several hundred new bicycle parking racks as part of a first phase upgrade of bicycle security measures. It is anticipated that installation will commence in mid-to-late September. These measures are part of the recently adopted Parking and Transportation Plan. Future work will involve the development of some strategically located covered bicycle shelters and installation of a number of rentable bicycle lockers. The College does plan to install some covered bicycle racks in the new parking structure.

8. Santa Rosa Laboratory, Office Complex (Barnett Replacement Project): The Final Project Proposal (FPP) for the new Laboratory, Office Complex was completed and submitted to the Chancellor’s Office on June 1^st as part of the District’s Five Year Capital Outlay Program. The College believes the project should be well qualified for state funding. The three story structure containing several specialized laboratory facilities and increased faculty office space is tentatively planned to be located on or near the existing Barnett Hall facility. The College hopes to gain funding approval within the next year (though its funding may be predicated upon a state-wide general obligation bond measure or two. SRJC’s funding proposal for this $30 million project contained a 70% state funding share and a 30% Measure A funding share.

9. Tauzer Gymnasium Rehabilitation and Expansion Project: The Initial Planning Proposal (IPP) was submitted to the Chancellor’s Office June 1^st as part of the College’s Five Year Capital Outlay Program. This very worthy project may face some funding difficulty at the state level given the lack of priority for physical education/athletic facilities. However, the College is in need of improved physical education and dance facilities including adaptive physical education and especially covered in-door space given the loss of enrollment due to inclement weather. The Initial Planning Proposal is a project outline and initial funding document. Should the College receive State approval of the IPP, then the College would need to develop a Final Project Proposal and have that submitted by next June. Administrative Services plans to work on this project and a number of outdoor physical education facilities projects during 2006-07.

10. Future Science & Mathematics Facility: Preliminary discussions will soon commence with appropriate chairs and academic administrators regarding the possible development of an Initial Planning Proposal for a combined Science and

Mathematics Facility that would look to replace either Shuhaw Hall or Bech Hall (one of these facilities could then be rehabilitated for other use). Should the College decide to move forward with an IPP, it would need to be submitted to the State by next June.

11. Continuous Santa Rosa Campus Replacement Planning: In addition to the above mentioned new projects (#7, #8 and#9), the College plans to focus the majority of its remaining Measure A funds on a variety of other important projects as well. Much of this remaining work will relate to improving facilities and program expansion for instructional support operations including Disabled Resources, low impact Elliott Avenue based administrative support departments and much infrastructure work. The Santa Rosa Campus is currently not in need of overall expanded instructional capacity. It does need more refined laboratory space and improved support space. A good number of our future projects can be categorized as replacement projects or discipline specific expansion projects (for existing FTES).

As we are all aware, the College needs to respond to its district wide adult population. Sonoma County area growth has flattened out though some increases are anticipated in the Santa Rosa and Petaluma areas in particular. As a rule of thumb measure, for every 100 increase in Santa Rosa population, the College will enroll between 16% to 20% of that growth. Additionally, the College, as part of its Measure A commitments, may need to address other areas and projects (Culinary Arts, north and west county land).

12.SRJC’s Historic Frontage Landscape: With Nancy Moorhead’s retirement, the College has lost a key “protector” and developer of its beautiful landscape. Like all of us who sign on with the College to build and maintain it, Nancy and her crew were committed to protect the college’s uniquely beautiful collegiate urban landscape. The College will continue this commitment and certainly adhere to the Board’s policy of not infringing upon its historic scenic vista along the Mendocino corridor. Our historic green environment is both cherished and protected and it will be maintained to the standards that folks like Nancy and her predecessors established.

Curt Groninga (cgroninga@santarosa.edu)