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By Lookout Staff

January 3 – A nondescript stretch of Pico Boulevard could become an inviting gateway to Santa Monica College under a plan to be presented Thursday night that includes building an entry plaza, adding extensive landscaping and replacing surface parking with an underground structure.

Adopted with community-wide input in 1998, the proposed project implements the final phase of SMC's Facilities Master Plan, which includes beautifying the Pico Boulevard frontage and providing an “important connection” between the Santa Monica community and its college, according to school officials.

The project, which will get underway in late 2008, also calls for constructing a Student Services Replacement Building to consolidate various student services currently scattered throughout the main campus and relocating the campus bookstore to Drescher Hall.

The new student services building replaces outdated facilities that do not have a centrally monitored fire alarm system and fire sprinklers or interior hallways and doorways that meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

“The convergence of all major student services into one location will improve the outreach and access of all services available to SMC students while providing an efficiency of common shared spaces,” college officials wrote in a statement.

One of the cornerstones of the plan is a new three-level subterranean parking structure for approximately 500 cars under the new building that would replace campus surface parking along Pico Boulevard and restore campus parking to pre-1994 earthquake levels.

Amenities would include a parking information station, vehicular drive and passenger drop-off and a generous parking concourse connection to the street level, according to the plan.

The proposed project also consolidates two bus stops along Pico and provides a parallel loading space that could accommodate bus pull-out with ample transition space that “would also help reduce traffic congestion along Pico Boulevard,” college officials said.

In addition, the project calls for extensive campus landscaping along the entire northern edge of the main campus along Pico Boulevard from 16th Street east to the campus boundary.

The college intends to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the project, which features state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

The project -- which will not boost the number of students, faculty or administrative personnel -- requires the demolition of a number of buildings on the main campus, officials said.

The project would result in an overall net decrease of 5,119 “assignable” square feet of building area and a net reduction of 178 classroom seats, according to officials.

The community presentation will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, January 3 in Room 123 of SMC's Bundy Campus, 3171 S. Bundy Drive.

Another community presentation will take place at 7 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 9 in the SMC Library, main campus, 1900 Pico Boulevard.

The College has prepared an environmental document that is now available for public review and comment.

Comments on the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Student Services Replacement, Bookstore Modernization, and Pico Improvements Project should be addressed to Mr. Randy Lawson, Executive Vice President, Santa Monica College, 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica 90405.

Written comments are due no later than Jan. 16, 2008. The document, along with related documents, is posted at http://www.smc.edu/facilities_student_services/default.html.