PD Editorial: Building trust while reshaping Santa Rosa Junior College

Sonoma County voters made a significant investment in the future of Santa Rosa Junior College two years ago when they approved $410 million in bonds for major facility upgrades.

Anyone who has opened their property tax bill in recent weeks understands that bond measures come at a real cost.

That’s why the burden is on SRJC officials to show they’ve earned this vote of confidence by spending these funds wisely and as efficiently as possible - on long-term campus needs that benefit students. So far, the evidence is encouraging that they’re doing exactly that.

The public got its first look at SRJC’s plans for Measure H funds on Tuesday at one of three community forums designed to show what is in store for the college, now less than two years away from celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The first phase includes four projects already approved by SRJC’s Board of Trustees: a $28 million upgrade for the Burbank Auditorium on the main campus, $15.7 million in upgrades at the Petaluma campus and $32.5 million for energy and sustainability projects at various sites. The list also includes a $1.2 million multipurpose lab at the public safety training center in Windsor. These are all good examples of the kind of long-term capital needs that bond measures can address.

But many questions surround how the rest of the bond funds will be spent. With the passage of Proposition 51 - a $9 billion bond act to improve public school and community college facilities - SRJC has been promised $34 million for a new chemistry, math and engineering center. Meanwhile, SRJC has applied for $22.6 million for two other projects, but it’s unclear if that funding will come through despite the fact that, with the help of Measure H money, the college would be able to provide matching funds.

So as of now, there is no priority list and no cost breakdown for how the Measure H funds will be spent. A specific bond spending plan is expected to go before the Board of Trustees sometime in January.

Nonetheless, the community forums are an opportunity to see what projects the college is planning - and give feedback.

Potential projects on the main campus range from a new social sciences building to replacing Barnett Hall and doing a seismic retrofit of Bailey Hall to building parking stalls with plug-ins for electric vehicles, upgrading the track and bleachers at Bailey Field and modernizing the swim center including the possible construction of a 50-meter pool, something the region has long needed.

Bond work at the Petaluma campus is expected to include the construction of a new classroom facility, an expansion of the student café and bookstore and the installation of solar array over two parking lots.

Meanwhile, some of the JC’s most farsighted plans have to do with its little-known Southwest Santa Rosa Center, located on Wright Road near Sebastopol Road. The Measure H plans call for SRJC to purchase the 9.5-acre site from the Wright School District and construct a new instructional building there while renovating the existing Heritage Hall into classrooms and administrative offices. The campus is currently being used to provide all-important English as a second language classes, basic computer instruction and basic college skills courses.

SRJC officials will be describing these projects in more detail at two additional community forums, one on Dec. 5 at the Petaluma campus from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and the other on Dec. 14 at the Southwest Center Campus at Heritage Hall. It’s a good time to see and influence what will be the largest, and most important, single investment in education in the county’s history.