Gavilan College Facilities Master Plan, The Big Five 2019-2022
by on Oct 8, 2018Finalized in August 2018, the Gavilan College Facilities Master Plan supports the Educational Master Plan developed in 2017. It serves as a guide focusing on the facilities required to respond to anticipated growth.
Gavilan College expanded into Gilroy from its base in San Benito County more than 50 years ago. The district added satellite campuses in Morgan Hill and Hollister 20 years ago. With the voter approval of Measure E, the district upgraded the Gilroy campus and secured land for permanent locations in San Benito County and Coyote Valley. The next step is development of the site in San Benito County, and significant upgrades for the Gilroy campus.
The Gavilan Joint Community College District Board of Trustees has adopted five key facilities projects to address from 2019 through 2022.
- Top priority beginning in 2019 is beginning to build the San Benito Center. The college purchased land at Fairview Corners in Hollister in partnership with Dividend Homes. The college was able to move forward with developing this new site after receiving a signed Incidental Take Permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service in August of 2018. The process of identifying, buying and gaining approval to build in San Benito County was a 10-year process.The Gavilan campus in Hollister will become the educational heart of the expanding Hollister municipal area. Plans include allocating $51.89 million from 2019 through 2021 to build the first of several permanent structures establishing the San Benito Center Campus: a 33,000 square foot multistory, multi-use building with classrooms, labs, student services areas, and a modest food service capacity, plus the infrastructure, parking, roads, and landscaping needed for Phase I.
- The solar project in the Gilroy campus parking lots A and C begun a year ago will connect to the PG&E grid in the next few weeks. Gavilan will generate its own power and the meters will begin rolling back by mid- to end of October. Power will be stored in battery storage, and the college will draw on stored power during peak energy use times. The final step in the project will be installation of the car charging stations.
- A new central plant/water treatment facility is planned for 2019 through 2021. Coupled with the solar project, this consolidation will streamline energy management and generate savings.
- Gavilan College has been awarded three multi-million dollar STEM grants, beginning in 2008. Former students in the STEM program have advanced to PhD studies at major research universities in California and nationwide. The Facilities Master Plan designates $19.7 million between 2019 – 2021 to construct and equip three buildings to support STEM Center educational programs.
- A new library at the Gilroy campus will replace the original building from the 1960s. Planned for 2020-2022, this new facility will be designed and built to house the Library and the Learning Resources Center. The college will access $13.9 million in state funds and contribute $4.5 million to develop the new educational facility.
You can read the whole Facilities Master Plan here.