Imposing structures rising on both Modesto Junior College campuses and at Columbia College are expected to earn greater praise for their inner beauty.
Program manager Matt Kennedy said three buildings will meet international standards for environmental design. Energy efficiency, lower water use, interior air quality and use of recycled materials are all part of qualifying, he said.
"The idea is that a building that's comfortable uses less pollutants and is a better building," Kennedy said.
While all California public schools are strapped for operating funds, building continues thanks to bonds and taxes dedicated solely to facility costs.
• YOSEMITE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT: Building and renovation projects are completely paid by Measure E, a $326 million bond measure voters passed in 2004 to fund construction, with an emphasis on job-training facilities. Its campuses have a greater demand for classes than they can meet because of budget cuts to general funds.
• CERES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Ceres qualified for hardship funds and is building three elementary schools with state funds. César Chávez Junior High will open this fall, built with Measure U bond funds, which are also being used for buildings and improvements on existing campuses. Ceres has maintained enrollment, the bulk of school general fund revenue, and expects roughly 200 more kindergartners than last year in the fall, said Assistant Superintendent Jay Simmonds.
• MODESTO CITY SCHOOLS: Costs of its Enochs and Gregori high schools, as well as improvements for several existing high schools, were planned for with a $65 million bond passed in 2001, but construction expenses exceeded that amount. It qualified for near-zero interest loans that it will pay off with redevelopment money, which can only be used for facilities, and general funds. The Gregori stadium is to be built with these funds. The Enochs pool is expected to be built using a combination of funds, including special taxes on new development. More development must occur to fund the pool. The district's enrollment has shrunk by roughly 1,800 students, or 5 percent, since 2007-08.
Kennedy works for Kitchell, the construction overseer for the Yosemite Community College District's building boom thanks to Measure E bond funding. The certification is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — Silver level.
"We set our sights on silver because it wascost-effective. It involved general improvements to the building, but it didn't have a heavy price tag," he said.
The three buildings and their eco-friendly provisions noted by Kennedy are listed below:
• STUDENT SERVICES BUILDING: Modesto Junior College East Campus, cost estimate $17.5 million, scheduled opening December.
This building will use task lighting, a high- efficiency cooling system, low-e glass, regular batting insulation plus a rigid insulation wrap and an underground storm water basin to recharge the water table.
• SCIENCE COMMUNITY CENTER: Modesto Junior College West Campus, cost estimate $70 million, scheduled opening August 2012. The building sits on a 60-foot-deep foundation built to hold the fourth-floor observatory steady. Dozens of piers, 6 to 8 feet in diameter, are connected by beams roughly 8 feet wide and 8 feet deep.
Rimmed by shaded walkways, exterior windows avoid direct sun. Motion- activated interior lights use a "daylight harvesting" system, incrementally adjusting brightness as needed. LED lights will illuminate the lobby. The building shares a superefficient heating and cooling system with the adjacent allied health building.
• SCIENCE AND NATURAL RESOURCES BUILDING: Columbia College, estimated cost $22.4 million, scheduled to be ready for fall lab classes, complete with lab prep areas and a cadaver room, according to a district report. It has the lighting technology used in the MJC science center. Solar panels will preheat hot water and generate electricity.
In other building updates:
• MJC WEST CAMPUS:
Major road work will be done during the summer, Kennedy said.
The ag pavilion adjacent to Highway 99 will open for events this fall. The 300-foot-by-160-foot dirt-floor arena will be ventilated by ceiling fans. Ag lab classes will move in during the fall.
The allied health building will be move-in ready in August. Where a dental clinic was expected to go in the lobby, a phlebotomy (blood-drawing) lab classroom will go instead. Dental assisting was one of the majors eliminated in recent budget cuts.
Lecture classrooms will have power and data outlets for student laptops.
• MJC EAST CAMPUS:
1960s-era art classrooms will get better ventilation over the summer.
Founders Hall will open for classes at the start of fall. Professors will get to pick their offices based on seniority and move in during September. The 40-year-old building is having an interior make-over, with new layout, better access for the disabled and wood-look vinyl flooring replacing odor-hosting carpet, Kennedy said.
A new parking lot will open 120 spaces this fall along Campus Way.
Pirates Village will gradually lose 25 of its trailers over the fall semester and a portion of the previous parking lot will be restored by spring semester.
Four trailers for the anthropology department will stay until the planned high-tech center opens, expected in August 2014.
On the Net:Update on Yosemite Community College District construction projects, http://bit.ly/YCCDprojects.
Bee education reporter Nan Austin can be reached at naustin@modbee.com or (209) 578-2339.
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