A final draft for a new facilities plan was introduced during the Glendale College faculty meeting on Oct. 13. The project will be reviewed in the Board of Trustees’  November meeting.
The plan is referred to as the Facilities Master Plan and it includes improvements on the Main Campus, Garfield Campus and the Professional Development Center in Montrose, all to be completed by 2025.
“This is only a plan and there are no start dates for any of the projects. We still need to identify funding for the major projects,” said Executive Vice President of Administrative Services Ron Nakasone.
On the Main Campus, the Master Plan suggests the demolition of outdated campus facilities to be replaced by new ones.
The portion of Verdugo Gym built in 1937 will be replaced with showers and lockers for both genders as well as other physical education facilities.
The current facility does not meet current structural codes, but the new structure will provide equal facilities for men and women in compliance with Title IX, a federal law that requires educational institutions to offer unbiased support to both genders.
The San Fernando Complex, which is a temporary facility, will be replaced by the Kinesiology, Dance and Music Center.
KDM will house the performing arts in one building. Currently, the music department is fostered in the auditorium building. Some of the classes are taught in the basement.
The Garden, situated between the auditorium and the San Fernando Complex, will be replaced by The Green, a space for active recreation to support kinesiology and fitness.
In place of the Sierra Nevada building, the Performance Plaza will provide a space for events and will be equipped for outdoor performance. The plaza will be adjacent to Plaza Vaquero.
“I think the addition of the Performance Plaza would be a huge asset to GCC,” Vice President of Campus Activities Ilona Mantachian said. “Being in charge of events, I always thought it would be so handy to have a go-to place to host our activities.”
The Aviation/Arts building will be replaced by a larger building called the Advanced Technology Center, which will house the advanced technology and manufacturing programs at GCC.
San Gabriel East Wing will take over the Advanced Technology building and the Santa Anita storage facility to level with the current San Gabriel building.
Pre-nursing major Mary Stewart says the labs in the current San Gabriel building are overcrowded.
“It’s hard to use models and conduct experiments in tight quarters,” Stewart said. “It would also be nice to have land dedicated to one specific field.”
As of now, Santa Anita is not approved by the Division of the State Architect as a learning facility. The DSA is a California government agency that provides oversight to California owned and leased facilities.
Parking accessibility might improve with the conversion of the tennis courts to a three-and-a-half-level parking lot with six tennis courts on the upper deck, replacing the current tennis courts. The parking lot will be called Lot B and will be accessible for faculty and permit holders from Chaparro Drive and for students via Lot A.
As far as renovations, the improvements will include the Auditorium, Library and Sierra Madre buildings.
The most notable is the possible addition of a lounging area for students in the Sierra Madre building, making space available for more food vendors on campus.
The Garfield Campus and the PDS will only undergo possible parking improvements.
The plan was masterminded by a team of administrators, faculty, classified employees and students.
“With all the committees and task force, we wanted to get a broad representation of the college in working on it,” Nakasone said.
“We are looking for younger employees. They have the best invested interest in the plan because they are going to be here in 10 or so years.”