City College’s current satellite campuses in West Sacramento and downtown Sacramento will close permanently in the spring 2010 semester while a permanent West Sacramento center begins instruction.
The new satellite campus in West Sacramento, located on a major public transportation route on West Capitol Avenue, is in its final stages of construction. If all goes as scheduled, keys to the new structure will be turned over to campus administrators on Dec. 28, according to Debra Luff, dean of the West Sacramento and Downtown centers.
“We are supposed to receive the keys for the building – that means it will be the turn-key operation – on Monday, Dec. 28,” Luff said. “That is if the weather cooperates and if construction progresses as planned.”
The facility is a state-of-the-art, three-story building that will contain 12 classrooms and will be fully integrated with Wi-Fi access. The online class schedule for spring 2010 semester contains a list of courses that will be offered.
“I guess it’s okay,” said Becky Thow, a student at the Downtown Center. “I live in West Sacramento, but [the Downtown Center] is only a block away from where I work.”
The construction of the new center is part of the Los Rios Community College District’s Plan for Educating a Region project, which is aimed at building additional “mini-campuses” within a three-mile-radius rule to cover areas where most students are currently commuting from around the greater Sacramento region. The goal of this plan is to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution by providing a local college center.
This project receives its funding from the allocation of state bonds that were approved through regional Measure M initiative last year.
The new West Sacramento center will be built in three phases. A fact sheet describing the phase build-out plans states that “completion of Phase II and III is dependent upon state bond funding [Measure M] and continued enrollment growth.”
“The district has decided that Folsom Lake would be the last college built in our district, so they’ve gone to a ‘center’ concept,” said Luff.
The dean pointed out that the lease for the space used in downtown for classes will expire in late December 2009, and the West Sacramento lease will expire in late January 2010.
“That allows us some time between the semesters to make the transition to the permanent facility.”
In spring 2010, the auditorium, Fischbaucher Arts Building and Student Services Building will be closed down on the main City College campus for a planned remodeling project. Some services held in these areas will be temporarily suspended, and some will move to the third floor of the new West Sacramento center.
The district Board of Trustees is already planning its board meeting in the new facility Jan. 20.
