HIGHER EDUCATION BOOST BOND PROCEEDS FUEL COMMUNITY COLLEGE IMPROVEMENTS.

Byline: - Lisa Van Proyen

Tens of thousands of students, teachers and staffers at community colleges throughout the San Fernando Valley can expect to see more classroom space, improved campus services and, in some cases, major reconstruction this year.

It's all a part of $2.2 billion in Prop A/AA bond money issued to the Los Angeles Community College District to make long-needed improvements throughout the nine-college system.

Of the $2.2 billion, $272.5 million goes to Pierce College, $270.4 million to Los Angeles Valley College, and $176 million to Mission College.

Few people can see the progress as clearly as Donna Northrop, who has enrolled in scores of classes at Pierce College over the last 30 years.

The 62-year-old agriculture business student is reaping the benefits at the Woodland Hills campus, where about $30 million has been spent to date on improvements.

``In the past, we haven't had all this,'' she said. ``The campus has just started to sparkle and shine.''

Colorful gardens have emerged. More classes are being offered. And new buildings are the focal point.

Northrop, who first attended Pierce in 1974 to learn basic horseback riding, can today ride horses in a covered arena recently constructed with a portion of the bond money.

``No matter what the weather is like, you can ride,'' said Northrop, who is one class away from obtaining her AA degree.

Pierce plans to build more arenas and stables this year to eventually house 300 horses, said Doreen Clay, college spokeswoman. And the campus will also see final planning for the Center for the Sciences, the Technology Center and the Student Services Complex.

In Valley Glen, Valley College is seeing its first major construction since 1972. About 50 restrooms are being renovated and about 10 more ``completely gutted,'' spokeswoman Cindy Sardo said.

Plans are also under way for a three-story Allied Health and Science Center and a three-story library and learning resource center, both with an estimated construction date of spring 2006.

Other projects in the planning stages this year include expanding the campus planetarium, theater arts, music arts and motion picture studio, Sardo said. A 75-footlong therapeutic pool for disabled students is planned, along with an Olympic-size pool.

Thanks to the bond money, small bungalows dating back to the early 1950s will be replaced with more modern classrooms.

``It's allowing the campus for the first time to really undergo major construction and renovation,'' Sardo said.

About $12 million has been spent to date at Valley College.

In the Northeast Valley, Mission College has spent about $13.5 million. The Campus Center, considered the main student gathering area, has been refurbished.

This spring, a new structure that will double campus parking space will begin construction, said Eduardo Pardo, Mission College spokesman. And by year-end, more classrooms are planned in Mission's Child Development Studies Center, more than doubling the capacity of attending children.

``Overall, the two bonds are going to allow us to make a full college campus,'' Pardo said.

Meanwhile, officials at California State University, Northridge, are expecting their own $50 million from a separate voter-approved bond measure planned over the next two years.

In anticipation of the funds, officials at CSUN, the San Fernando Valley's only four-year public university, have already hired designers for the Valley's first major performing arts center. CSUN also needs to come up with $50 million in donations. More than $1 million for planning funds will stem from voter-approved Proposition 55.

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(color) Linda Howell of Tarzana readies her horse, Girl, for a ride at Pierce Community College, where more stables are to be built.

Michael Owen Baker