Merced College is moving forward with Measure P improvements at the Los Banos Campus.
That was the report given to the Los Banos Rotary Club at its monthly meeting on July 21 by Antonia Martin, Los Banos Rotarian and member of Merced College’s Measure P citizens bond oversight committee
The bond, which was passed by a 74% majority in the November 2024 election, authorizes both improvements to the existing facilities and new construction of career technical education buildings.
Martin presented to the club a slide presentation, developed by the college and shown to the oversight committee, which depicts a new facility master plan for the Los Banos Campus.
The plan was developed with the help of a project team from Gensler, a global architecture, design and planning firm, and utilizes six facility planning principles developed during the college’s 2019 planning process to support its Educational Master Plan goals.
The six principles are student success, access and wayfinding, collegiate identity, effectiveness and efficiency, stewardship of resources and community engagement.
The plan lays out future development in three phases guided by the language of the Measure P bond language and aligned with the district’s long-term priorities.
Phase 1 projects are expected to be funded by Measure P, up to the approved $46 million. Additional funding sources will be required for Phase 2 and 3 projects
Phase 1 projects include a campus quad renovation, a new welding building, a new automotive technology building and student services renovations.
Phase 2 includes a new allied health building and Phase 3 a student union.
The proposed new buildings focus primarily on CTE (Career Technical Education) to create new workforce pathways for in-demand career fields.
The welding facility will bring to the campus a successful program currently housed in a rented facility on G Street. With the program on campus, students enrolled in it will be able to more easily access the full range of student services available.
The proposed new automotive technology building, according to the facilities master plan, “will provide instructional space designed to meet the growing demand for skilled technicians in the region” and “will offer hands-on training aligned with current industry standards.”
No timetable for Phase 1 was presented to the oversight committee, according to Martin, but the committee was told the first project in the phase, the renovation of the quad, should begin soon.
That renovation will include, according to the plan, “the construction of a permanent stage to support a variety of campus and community events,” including graduation ceremonies, to help “foster community engagement.”
Martin told Rotarians she felt positive about the future of the Los Banos Campus based on the presentation to the Measure P citizens bond oversight committee and feels the college is moving forward to spend the funds generated by the bond expeditiously and efficiently.
