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E-mail StoryCollege district offers details on campus project
| Monday, Sep 10 2007 10:25 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Sep 10 2007 10:29 PM
Ten years from now, Arvin residents might see a college campus in a walkable community with all the services a neighborhood needs.
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That's the vision the Kern Community College District has for a future campus and residential community along Highway 99 that would be tied to Bakersfield College.
The district agreed to purchase 60 acres for $3.6 million from Bolthouse Properties LLC during a board of trustees meeting Thursday in Bishop. In turn, Bolthouse Properties donated 66 acres, for a total campus site of 126 acres west of Highway 99 and south of Bear Mountain Boulevard.
District officials are offering more details about the project, which is in the conceptual stage.
The campus would be part of a 1,600-acre integrated community with low- and medium-density residential space, schools, parks and commercial and industrial sites.
Funding came from the $180 million Safety Repair and Improvement District bond approved by voters in 2002, said district Chancellor Sandra Serrano.
Officials have discussed the idea since 2001 as they eyed areas with the most growth, she said. The district wants to meet the needs of Arvin and other south Kern communities. The district has been looking at the Bolthouse location since 2002, she said.
The college would start as a satellite center with a few buildings. It would eventually grow into something like the college's Delano center. One day it could become the district's newest college.
The district is still looking into curriculum, Serrano said, working with community leaders and gathering demographic data to discover how businesses could complement the campus by offering instruction.
Nearby automotive, maintenance and manufacturing operations in the area would be natural partners, she said.
The college has plans for a northwest campus with similar residential and retail offerings. The proposed 63-acre campus near Kratzmeyer Road and the Rio Bravo-Greeley Union School District is on hold as the county works out the area's traffic issues.
Serrano said both projects would offer walkable, sustainable communities with retail and neighborhood services.
Construction on the south campus could start in five to 10 years, but that's "nothing more than an educated guess," said Bakersfield College President Bill Andrews.
The campus, which would offer general education courses, could grow to serve 15,000 to 20,000 students, just like the Panorama campus.
Population growth and increased driving times to the main campus are big reasons for the expansion. Andrews said ideally students shouldn't have to commute more than 20 to 30 minutes to a community college. Students from the northwest and southwest deal with such commutes.
The next step is for faculty, staff, students and administrators to meet and plan what they want. Such a meeting would be at least two to three years away, he said.
Specific plans have not gone forward to the county or state chancellor's office, he said.
These public/private partnerships have become more frequent over the past decade, said Fred Harris, assistant vice chancellor in finance and facilities planning for the state community colleges system.
That's because local and state funding are falling far behind colleges' financial needs, especially as construction costs rise, he said.
In California, several districts have raised a total of about $18 billion through bonds since the start of the decade, but their construction needs will be upwards of $30 billion over the next 10 years, Harris said.
Community colleges, including those in Sacramento and Clovis, are partnering with elementary and high school districts to share facilities. Some campuses are planning senior housing on their property.
In San Ramon, Harris said, a community college is partnering with retailers on a building with stores on the lower level and classrooms on the second floor.
"To integrate in the community setting is ideal," he said. "My dream of retirement is being able to take all the community college classes I ever wanted to take."