With a budget of $200 million for Fresno City College’s construction projects, Measures C and E will fund the construction for an updated math and science building, Career and Technology Center, police and fire academies, a west Fresno satellite campus and a new parking structure.

Parking

State Center Community College District will use $50 million from Measure C funding to finally address parking improvements at Fresno City College.

“We are currently in the planning stage to determine the type of work necessary to improve and expand parking,” said Christine Miktarian, assistant vice chancellor for Business and Operations.

The lack of parking space has been a problem at FCC since the ‘70s, as articles from The Rampage from that era have shown, and still remains a prominent issue for students today.

“I give up after driving around for half an hour in the parking lots,” said FCC student Ashley Tatarakis. “I’d end up parking at Ratcliffe Stadium and just walking to the campus.”

Tatarakis said that despite having a parking pass, “it’s just so hard to find parking in the mornings.”

Prices for parking passes have increased to $30 per semester, according to the agenda of the December 2014 meeting of the board of trustees of the State Center Community College District which outlined increases each year until the fall 2018 semester.

Math, Science, & Engineering Building

Approximately $50 million from Measure C will fund updates to FCC’s Math, Science, and Engineering building.

“We have the highest enrollment of any division on campus,” said Carl Johansson, a biology instructor. “Yet we cannot offer enough basic classes, and we certainly have no room to offer specialty classes that would be very beneficial to students with specific interests.”

Johansson said the present situation is a “disservice to our students.”

He added that the “dated design and lack of infrastructure to support new equipment and technologies means we cannot train current students on equipment they will be using going forward.”

Career and Technology Center, Police & Fire Academy

The $30 million from Measure E will fund new police and fire academies as well as the Career and Technology Center.

According to Miktarian, an important driver in the decision to bring forward Measure C on a ballot was to gain funding to ensure these projects could be built, since the remaining funds from Measure E alone were not enough to complete them.

Locations for the new police and fire academies as well as the CTC have yet to be decided.

West Fresno

Planning is still under development for a campus for West Fresno, the area south of the 180 freeway and west of 99, considered one of the most disadvantaged areas in the state.

“Bringing education into the West Fresno area is one way to begin the process of transforming the community into a prosperous and healthy environment,” said Miktarian.

Solar

Though not funded by Measure C, the solar panel project is the first of many projects about to begin at FCC. Preparatory work for the solar panels has already begun, with foundation work scheduled to start in September and continue throughout the fall 2017 semester.

“The installation of solar will reduce our reliance on nonrenewable energy that will reduce our greenhouse gas effects on the environment,” Miktarian said. “The district is expected to save in excess of $18 million over 20 years.”

Additionally, the solar project will provide students and staff access to covered parking and charging stations for electric vehicles.

Updates on the solar project can be found on the SCCCD website.

The Ram Pantry

Currently, the Ram Pantry sets up on the side of the cafeteria every Friday. However, the Ram Pantry plans to soon relocate its services to the now vacant Pacific Cafe.

Construction for the new Ram Pantry is expected to be completed by Nov. 1, but the date its opening to the public has not been set.