Santa Monica College officials who addressed the Malibu Optimist Club last week said the facility would house up to 10 classrooms with the potential to hold a maximum of about 200 students.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
Officials from the Santa Monica College District said last week that if all goes according to plan, the long-awaited Santa Monica College satellite campus in Malibu could open within three years.
The plan is to construct a 20,000-square-foot combination college satellite campus and county Sheriff’s Department substation in the Civic Center area. The new facility will be built at the site of the old Sheriff’s substation near the courthouse, which closed years ago due to budgetary reasons and will be torn down. Up to 5,700 square feet of the new facility will be used by the Sheriff’s Department for a substation and emergency operations and planning center.
Don Girard, senior director of government relations and institutional communications at SMC, told The Malibu Times the facility would house up to 10 classrooms, with the potential to host a maximum of about 200 students. Provided there are no delays in the permitting or construction process, the facility could open at the start of 2015. The sheriff’s substation should open at the same time, Girard said.
The county Board of Supervisors announced a preliminary agreement in April with SMC on a 25-year lease for the approximately 128,500 square feet of the county’s property in the Civic Center. The lease requires a $4.36 million upfront payment and includes 14 five-year options to renew, pushing the potential length of the lease to 95 years.
In 2004, SMC district voters approved Measure S, a $135 million Santa Monica College bond measure that included $25 million for a satellite campus intended to accommodate students mainly from Malibu. College district residents in Santa Monica and Malibu footed the bill, paying about $18 per $100,000 of assessed value of their homes, according to the district.
Addressing the Malibu Optimist Club Thursday last week, Girard said the project was currently undergoing the environmental review process. Girard expected to receive environmental clearance for the project by mid-summer of 2012, at which point SMC would hire an architect to design the facility.
Girard estimated it would take six months for the architect to complete the designs, and another six months to secure building and safety approval from the Division of the State Architect, an agency notorious for red tape. Once approved, Girard said construction should take about 18 months.
In the 1970s and 1980s, SMC offered about 70 general education classes along with several noncredit classes in Malibu every semester. However, the program deteriorated over time due to the absence of a permanent facility.
Nevertheless, SMC does currently offer classes in Malibu. Maral Hyeler, project manager for dual enrollment at SMC, speaking at the Optimist Club, said the college offers four evening classes at Webster Elementary School. Subjects this semester include business, music appreciation, political science and speech.
“We currently have more Malibu residents enrolling in these classes, so I guess the word is getting out,” Hyeler said. “And we really want to see more Malibu residents enrolling in these classes if they’re interested.”
Hyeler encouraged Malibu residents interested in taking classes to come to Webster on the first day of class, even if the class is closed. She said many students in the SMC system sign up for the classes without realizing where Malibu is, and subsequently drop them on the first day.
Girard and Hyeler spoke Thursday last week at the regular meeting of the Malibu Optimist Club. The club, whose motto is “Friend of Youth,” contributes to causes to support youth. It sponsors a youth home in Eagle Rock for teens transitioning from juvenile detention back to society, as well as up to $14,000 in annual scholarship donations to local Malibu students each spring. The club meets every Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the Fireside Room on the campus of Pepperdine University.