San Diego Community College District’s $1.6 billion construction bond program is transforming campuses/creating jobs

SAN DIEGO - Now more than a decade into major capital improvement activities at all of its campuses, the San Diego Community College District’s (SDCCD) construction bond program, funded by voter-approved Proposition S, a $685 million bond passed in 2002, and Proposition N, an $870 million bond passed in 2006, has provided for the completion of nearly 100 projects to date, including new, state-of-the-art instructional and career training facilities, major renovations, student and public safety enhancements, parking facilities and campus-wide infrastructure projects.  The District includes City, Mesa and Miramar Colleges, and seven Continuing Education campuses located throughout San Diego.

“Propositions S and N have literally transformed our campuses,” says Dr. Constance M. Carroll, Chancellor. “We have opened a number of extraordinary new buildings with state-of-the art instructional equipment. As a result, our students are extremely well-educated and well-prepared either to transfer to four-year universities or to enter the workforce with in-demand skill sets.”

“We are so grateful to the voters for their confidence in the San Diego Community College District and for supporting these important projects,” says Rich Grosch, President of the SDCCD Board of Trustees. “Our taxpayers deserve enormous credit for helping build the future of education in San Diego.”

Approximately 125 projects make up the Propositions S and N bond program, including five facilities which will be open for the fall 2014 semester - the new Arts & Humanities and Business Technology buildings at City College; and a new Student Welcome and Resource Center, new Administration Building, and new Fire Science/EMT Training Facility at Miramar College.

In addition to these projects, additional projects are under construction or nearing completion. 

San Diego Continuing Education

​San Diego Continuing Education is made up of seven unique campuses located throughout the City, and is the largest non-credit adult educational institution of its kind in the nation. Propositions S and N-funded projects for Continuing Education include the construction of six new campus facilities, a major wing extension for the Educational Cultural Complex (ECC), a campus seismic retrofit, and land acquisition required to complete campus expansions as promised to the voters.  Current projects include:

César E. Chávez Campus

Budget: Campus - $50.03 million (included $5.7 million land acquisition

Budget: Parking Structure - $7.9 million

The project consists of land acquisition and construction of a new building to consolidate the current programs at the César E. Chávez and Centre City campuses. The 67,924 square foot facility will house 22 classrooms for vocational training, English as a Second Language (ESL), Adult Basic Education (ABE), high school equivalency preparation classes, Business Information Technology (BIT), Parent Education and Emeritus (age 55+) programs. The new building will also include a multi-purpose room and administrative offices and provide space for a Small Business Incubator. Underground parking will provide 149 parking spaces, including preferred parking for carpools and high efficiency vehicles. The design is on track to obtain a LEED Silver certification, and is scheduled for completion April 2015.

Concurrent with the construction of the new classroom building, a new parking structure is being constructed adjacent to the campus with 320 spaces to accommodate additional parking needs. The structure is scheduled for completion June 2015.

West City Campus Parking Expansion

Budget: $499,000

A comprehensive parking study completed for the District’s popular West City Campus determined a need for additional parking.  A portion of a vacant parcel owned by the District and adjacent to West City is being converted to an additional 78 spaces to serve the campus.

Some of the more recently completed projects for Continuing Education include the North City Campus, and the expansion of the Educational Cultural Center (ECC) to add a new classroom wing and new administrative wing.

Environmental sustainability is an essential goal of the District. Escalating energy costs require that management at all levels focus on the efficient and effective use of resources. The District’s Green Building Policy implementation requires that at least five percent of a project’s total energy is generated from renewable resources, such as solar energy. Data from the California Center for Sustainable Energy shows that the District is one of the top producers of renewable energy in SDG&E territory.  Of the 7.718 megawatts (MW) installed or pending installation under the California Solar Initiative, SDCCD constitutes 2.367 MW of the total. Combined, installations across the District represent the generation of 4,876,129 kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable energy each year.  According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, this is the equivalent of saving more than 3,500 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year. The District is currently on track to obtain 42 LEED certifications – more than any single organization within San Diego County.

The District has in place a Small and Historically Underutilized Contractor Outreach Program designed to promote the increased utilization and sustainability of small and historically underutilized businesses (S/HUBE) on Propositions S and N projects.  To date, 61% of all contracts for professional services and 54% of all contractors for builders and contractors have been awarded to an S/HUBE firm.

For 11 consecutive years, the District has received top bond ratings and “clean” audits. The bond program’s transparency was recently cited among the county’s best in the San Diego County Taxpayers Association’s recent Bond Transparency Scorecard.

The $1.555 billion Propositions S and N construction bond program is providing for new instructional and career training facilities, major renovations, campus wide infrastructure projects, public safety enhancements and parking projects at City, Mesa and Miramar Colleges, and seven Continuing Education campuses.