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Big Plans: Small Plot
When land is a tight commodity
 By Larry Eisenberg
Los Angeles Community College District
Executive Director, Facilities Development and Planning
In a heavily urbanized place like Los Angeles, finding sufficient space for expansion of facilities is always a major challenge. Many of the nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College system are completely built to capacity and it is occasionally necessary to use adjacent lots to fulfill a desired need.
Among the objectives of the District's $2.2 billion capital improvement program is adding new buildings, improving services and improving parking on finite parcels of land. To accomplish these goals, new buildings are renovated and decades-old "temporary" bungalows are razed, to be replaced by the appropriate permanent buildings. We look to our architects and engineers to find creative solutions for our big plans for small plots of land.
An example of an excellent solution to the "Big Plans/Small Plot" conundrum came from Los Angeles City College (LACC), which found itself in need of an athletic field, parking structure and offices for the Maintenance and Operations department. The campus is located just west of downtown and adjacent to both dense residential and business communities.
To accommodate the needs of its thriving student population, LACC allocated for this set of projects a relatively small plot of land, previously an employee parking lot about half a block in size.
With the help of a team of consultants, the District office and City College, conceived an elegant and uniquely urban solution: a stacked structure that incorporates the parking, offices and athletic field. The multi-use roof-top field will have an eight-lane track (with seven of the lanes to be NCAA-certified); plus a softball field, restrooms, a long jump and discus pad, night lighting, and bleachers that will seat over 850 fans.
The Facilities Department, once shuffled about from one temporary location to the next, is looking forward to their LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) - Certified Maintenance and Operations facility. The Carpenters Shop, Electrical Shop, Plumbers, Painters and HVAC will have their own space and easy access to the main shipping and receiving area for the campus. 
The campus community, facing very tight parking already, will benefit from the two levels of parking totaling 978 spaces and from natural ventilation and light produced by the structure's LEED design. Both the parking structure and M&O facility will be housed beneath the athletic field.
Combining these various functions and facilities into one tightly integrated space could only have come about with the combined efforts of everyone involved. Our faculty, staff, planners, architects and engineers met frequently to come up with the idea of increasing the site's usability by stacking and interlocking three very different campus functions and to work out the complex logistics.
I am a strong believer that incorporating the input of both the planners and the end-users creates a better project. We are looking forward to the upcoming groundbreaking for this innovative 3-in-1 solution. Los Angeles City College has offered us the perfect example of how big plans can fit on small plots.
The LACCD construction and modernization projects receive funding from Propositions A and AA, two bond measures overwhelmingly approved by Los Angeles voters. Propositions A / AA have provided over $2.2 billion for extensive new construction and renovation at each of the nine community college campuses. You can find out more information on the bond program, bid opportunities and project status at www.propositiona.org.
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 Ray Loving, a DMJM/JGM Finance Manager for three years, was recently promoted to Deputy Program Director, Internal Operations, on the LACCD Prop A/AA improvement program. He reports to Fred Gans, the Program Director for the $2.2 billion program to modernize and renovate the nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community Colleges.
"Internal Operations is the backbone that supports the entire bond construction project," said Loving, who will rely on his extensive experience in organizational structure and financial forecasting models in his new duties. "Fortunately, I have a talented and efficient team which is committed to both accuracy and efficiency."
 Loving is a graduate of the University of Southern California's MBA program, and majored in Accounting at Cal-State, Long Beach. As Director of Finance for the Alhambra School District, Loving was responsible for all financial operations, budgets, strategic plan, departmental monitoring and the development of internal policies and procedures. Loving also has experience as a management consultant: he was a Senior Business Consultant for American Management Systems, an international information technology firm.
His specific responsibilities as Deputy Program Director for Internal Operations include oversight of all core support departments, such as accounting, construction contracts, professional services contracts, information technology, internal controls, document controls, and program controls.
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 Recently we've had the opportunity to improve user accessibility to www.propositiona.org. We've updated the college pages with new information, modified the tool bar, created a resources page and added hundreds of links to the site. We think you'll like the improvements.
Check out the "What's New" section on the front page. Here you will find recent news articles, construction updates and events of interest to LACCD contractors, designers, faculty and students.
The most dramatic change has been the creation of the "Resources" page: a one-stop-shop for our contractors, designers and vendors. This page is neatly categorized into nine convenient sections. With this new format, we will be able to significantly increase the amount of usable information available.
We've also added information on the Surety Bond and Finance program. This page details the enrollment eligibility and program services for the program. This will help to enhance the accessibility of our contracts to small, local and emerging businesses.
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Further affirming its commitment to contracting with local and small businesses, the Board of Trustees for the Los Angeles Community Colleges recently awarded more than $00 in construction contracts for projects at four of its colleges. These contracts are the result of formal competitive biddi325,0ng, and are funded by the $2.2 billion Proposition A and AA Bond program.
In December 2005, the Board of Trustees awarded separate contracts to two certified small business enterprises, the Reynolds Group of Tustin and Kahromic Contracting, Inc. of Glendale. The Reynolds Group will perform work on the Maintenance Operations - Above Ground Fuel Storage project at Pierce College. Kahromic Contracting will provide services for the Ceiling Mitigation Phase II project at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College.
In early January 2006, the Board of Trustees awarded a contract to local business Ashlar Contractors and Developers, Inc. of Encino to provide services for the Foreign Language Building project at Los Angeles Valley College in Valley Glen. The Board also awarded Absolute Abatement of Fullerton a contract for the abatement and removal of asbestos containing material at the Child Day Care Center at West Los Angeles College in Culver City.
The Los Angeles Community Colleges have established the goal to award 28 percent of all contracting dollars for Proposition A/AA Bond projects to small, local, emerging and/or Disabled Veteran owned businesses. In 2004, small businesses earned 54 percent of contract dollars for projects funded by the Proposition A and AA Bond construction program.
The Los Angeles Community Colleges are committed to contracting with local and small businesses to the greatest extent possible. Companies interested in participating in the historic renovation and modernization of the nine colleges are encouraged to contact Donetta Pickett at Donetta.Pickett@dmjmjgm.com, and to visit www.PropositionA.org and click on "Doing Business with Us."
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LEED Technical Review at Pierce College! Friday February 3.
In support of all the new construction in Los Angeles, the U.S. Green Building Council is offering a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) technical review class at Pierce College for new construction and major renovations (LEED-NC). Space is still available!
LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations (LEED-NC) is a green building rating system that was designed to guide and distinguish high-performance commercial and institutional projects, with a focus on office buildings. Practitioners have also applied the system to K-12 schools, multi-unit residential buildings, manufacturing plants, laboratories and many other building types.
The LEED-NC Technical Review in Woodland Hills, CA will be held on Friday, February 3 at Pierce College. Visit the Products and Services section of the USGBC web site to register. Questions should be directed to Bharat Patel, Chair of USGBC-Los Angeles, at 213.593.8250.
On-site registration for the workshop begins at 8:00a.m., and the workshop will take place from 8:30a.m. - 5:00p.m. Please note that late registration rates take effect on Friday, January 27th.
Early Registration Fees: $325 Member and $425 Non-Member
Late Registration Fees: $355 Member and $475 Non-Member
To learn more about the U.S. Green Building Council and LEED, please visit www.usgbc.org.
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Due to the recent construction boom, contractors, estimating firms and contract management firms throughout Los Angeles County and Southern California are actively seeking estimators.
 To meet this need and to provide a qualified pool of estimators for LACCD's own $2.2 billion construction program, Los Angeles Trade-Tech is offering Building Estimating II. The class covers at an advanced level: Construction Specification Institute (CSI) system, quality take-off procedures, material cost development, labor wage rates, worker productivity, equipment costs, bonding, workman's compensation, liability insurance, overhead, profit, contingency, escalation and general requirement costs determination.
Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., February 6 - June 5, 2006
Carpentry 247, Section #4738, 3 credits
Register on campus or online or at www.lattc.edu
Call (213) 763-5300 for more information.
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EDUCATION CHANGES EVERYTHING - Proposition A/AA Helps Make it Happen. |
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