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| For Immediate Release | Contact: Felicia M. Torrez |
| February 16, 2009 | Phone: (559) 934-2132 |
$100 million in projects on books for West Hills Community College District
More than $100 million in construction projects are planned by West Hills Community College District during the next eight years, according to Chancellor Frank Gornick. The projects were discussed during a recent board of trustees retreat.
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"We have to stay focused on quality and having good people," he told trustees. "We have to roll with the flow (of the economy)."
The district’s architect, Kevin Cobb, who is with AP Architects, the district’s facilities planners, outlined the projects and timelines for them.
He told trustees that the state is projecting a four percent growth in student contact hours for the district. Currently, facilities in the district accommodate 80,000 student contact hours. By 2015, when the facilities he outlined should be complete, the number of contact hours is anticipated to be 105,000 per year.
Cobb started the presentation with information on the wellness center construction and gymnasium renovation that is currently underway in Coalinga. The $10 million project was started last fall and will take more than a year to complete.
In addition to completely renovating the gym and locker rooms, the old weight room will become a dance studio and a new weight room is being built.
Cobb said that several major campus infrastructure improvements are being done with the project including a major electrical upgrade that will allow power for kilns in the art studio, energy management and video security systems and an irrigation system.
Cobb added that cash management is a major consideration for projects throughout the state and that at WHCC, ordering major equipment for the wellness center project is being delayed until it is actually needed in Coalinga.
Scheduled to begin construction possibly as early as this summer in Coalinga are new agriculture science facilities at the Farm of the Future. The facilities and infrastructure are projected to cost about $12.4 million.
Other major projects in Coalinga include a $5 million modernization of the speech arts building, a $14.5 million new allied health building with classrooms and labs and a $10.2 million modernization of the campus that will remodel 10 buildings on campus.
At West Hills College Lemoore, a $20 million multi-use sports complex is in the bidding process. A $8 million student center is on the drawing boards for next year, Cobb said. Projects following that include a $27 million field sports complex that will include baseball, softball and soccer fields and a competition swimming pool; a $13.2 million classroom building and a $10 million expansion of the administration building.
Work is already underway on repairs at North District Center, Firebaugh and Cobb said that more extensive remodeling will be done this summer when college classes will be offered offsite. Those renovations are being done as a stop-gap measure while plans are being considered for a major construction project for North District Center. A meeting was held in December to outline possible options and to get community input. The three options included building an entirely new facility, completely renovating the existing facility and a combination of the two.
Learning centers are also being planned in several communities around the district including Avenal, San Joaquin, Tranquillity, Huron and Riverdale.
West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 7,000 students on campus and online each semester.