Proposed Parking Structure 2019

Let's Get this Right

 

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And so here we are without the public getting the full story with truthful, transparent and open discussion about the future of Sierra College's campus.

2019 - Proposed Parking Structure Comments thus far

Here are many of the comments so far in the order I have received them (I have taken out "redacted" the names):

Preface (from Sierra College - Smart Planning Coalition member) - In its current form, this project will bring profound, far ranging, and disastrous consequences to our campus environment, and we implore the Sierra College Board of Trustees to consider relocating this needed addition to our campus. After all, though this project has been under discussion for years as part of the Facilities Master Plan and has gone through the campus’ shared governance process, we do not feel that the project has been vetted with appropriate transparency or in a manner that allowed for meaningful engagement from stakeholders (most especially students and faculty). Moreover, there is at least one instance of apparent complete concealment and deception on social media, where the official Sierra College Facebook page claims that the parking structure will not invade the nature preserve but will be built over “existing structures.” This post was made about two months ago, long after the current site plan was decided.

Additionally, while the current EIR does address some of the consequences of the current parking structure plans, we feel that many of those consequences are not sufficiently addressed by the report. Further, there are additional concerns not currently addressed at all. The most salient consequences of the proposed structure fall into three primary categories: ecological, historical/ cultural, and aesthetic. Significantly, each of these areas (ecology, history/ culture, and aesthetics) bring with them educational benefits that many instructors make use of. Instructors and students clearly value the educational benefits of the nature area: according to a poll designed by a group of faculty calling themselves the Sierra College Smart Planning Coalition, 77% of respondents believe the planned location of the Parking Garage will adversely affect this unique educational resource.

1.Thank you for the visual.   I assumed the new parking garage was going to be located in the exact same location as the current parking lots located on Sierra College Blvd (lots J and K).   In my opinion, that would be the better location for the new parking garage. 

2. Thanks for your post and advocacy on this matter.
I hope many take the time to watch the presentation and participate in the survey (I did)…

3. Last fall I participated in the Traffic Impact Report and the EIR because of my nature preserve interests. Feedback was due during the holidays, so I think a lot of staff didn’t realize what was going on. I spent hours on it and never received a response, only an acceptance of my input from Laura Doty. I don’t have quite the knowledge on the plant and wildlife impact of the main parking garage that Shawna Martinez or Krissy Gilbert have, but I have a lot. I tried to get xxx.

Anyways, my argument is a little different than most. I think what we really need here are drop off pick up areas for all the students coming here by Uber or Lyft. The parking garage encourages single person per car driving onto campus and while that has been the history here, that is not our future transportation reality. I get the impression that this was a done deal a long time before the bond passed. I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that the vote is being taken at NCC. The parking garages certainly aren’t what I wanted to be paying for. My kids all moved to Nevada years ago to get away from CA taxation. That is the trend for Placer County’s future generations.

4. Is there some kind of time limit? Are we in a rush?
Have we already committed to the current architects?
Is there a fixed budget?
My dad was a architect and I ican tell you for a fact, that this could be such a cool educational opportunity … at every level.
Engineering students, business students, environment-related disciplines, etc.

How often do we get a new building? Once every 20 years?
We could put out a bid to architectural students in our region (from CSU, UCDavis, etc.) for creative designs.
Any of our students who participated would have something to brag about on their resumes, and bring their OWN kids to see what they helped with some day.
Such a project would take longer, but it would be so much more note-worthy, and with community involvement, it would be something to set us apart. Who brags about a garage? Well, let’s make one that’s brag-worthy, and then we’ll see.
Maybe one of the criteria of a winning bid would be the willingness by the architects to help us find additional money, through grants or something.
Every single part of this project could be a teachable moment.

This would be such a cool project to manage too.
Having been a project manager, there’s nothing like a big cool project that comes together.

Our other option? Big dumb brick.
I bet they stamped that floor plan out of a re-approved basic pattern to avoid the expense of additional permits. (It’s what housing developers do to save money. Everyone’s house looks alike.) In fact, the design you’ve shown looks almost identical to the parking garage at Kaiser.

5. I was shocked when I saw the  model.  The visual model gives one a much better perspective of the impact of this structure.  Why there?  Why not where there already is asphalt/disturbance  across from the solar panel parking or on the other side of Rocklin Rd (overflow area)?  Why remove more of the nature preserve when it is supposed to be PRESERVED?  
The height of the building means wherever you are it will be seen (eyesore)?  Is there not a better way to accommodate cars without giving up aesthetics and nature?  
What message are we giving our students with such a structure - maybe the real issue is designing mass transit around class schedules which was brought up in our equity forum.
I don't believe this money is being used in the best interest of our students, community or environment.

6. Interesting video and survey, thanks for the information.

If you feel this is NOT the place for the parking garage, what are your suggestions for where to place it instead??
Along Sierra College over the existing parking lot, for example?

7.   Yeah, I think we’re going to take a lot of heat over it. One of the many points that I raised was that parking garages worldwide are getting either torn down or repurposed, because they’re underutilized for the amount of real estate footprint they use. I project that down the road they’ll be trying to figure out how to convert it into the new science building that they should have built in the first place.

30% of Placer County’s almost 400,000 residents don’t own homes and get a free ride on the shirttails of the 280,000 who do, but that’s still more than a quarter of a million people. Close to 25% of Placers property tax payers are over 65 on fixed incomes. Add in the rest of our District that reaches Eldorado and Sac counties and we will have more than a few pissed off puppies. I can see parking fees go to $5 a day real easy too. When they built all of the new parking lots, the daily fee went from $1 a day to $2 then $3. Good luck with the fight you’ve taken on.

 

8. Good morning ,
I have watched the video and read the comments.
And, I  am supportive of your efforts to inform our communities.
And, obviously we in the xxx department would benefit from not having a structure built over us for two years.

However,  I using only the white 3d model, and not the actual rendering of the structure with its intended color and cladding - design, is a bit dishonest when communicating with folks. 

There was much discussion ( a couple of years worth) and lots of design work to come up with a solution for the structure that is not a gray prison-like eyesore regardless of where it is finally built??

My two cents

9. – thank you for your very informative video.  Hopefully a large number of community and staff members will attend the BOT meeting and let their voices be heard. 

10. I was aware that a new big parking structure was being built somewhere around that area, but had NO IDEA it was so massive!! 
Someone had talked about it, but I thought he was exaggerating because it sounded like a joke.  
The nature that surrounds this campus is one of the things that sets us apart from other schools. As a young student I experienced a lot of heartache at home. High school was making my family  life even worse. I was going to drop out, but decided to switch schools. I transferred to a high school in the outskirts of the city. That changed everything for me! During my breaks I would walk around campus, picked berries, listened to the birds, etc. Being able to connect with the peace and tranquility nature gives, made me relax and see everything in a different light. Anxiety, depression, and other emotional issues are a problem amongst students in general. Building this massive parking would destroy the habitat of plants and animal, and it would also affect our students emotional well being. 
Thank you for sending this information and for showing us in 3-D what this project would look like. 

11.  Thank you for putting the time into the model and the effort to inform us regarding this project. I have now completed 45 years of part time teaching at Sierra. This academic year, I decided to teach only in the spring so my thinking was that a lot of thought and discussions had taken place last semester. 

The location never made sense to me but once again I thought there must be a reason. Build it where the existing lots are located. Build it across Rocklin Rd along with a walking bridge for students. Leave and preserve the trees and open space! 

 

12.  Thank you buddy! You got my attention and support!

13.  Why are they not building up the current parking lots right next to Sierra Blvd? They could certainly use both sides of those lots and relocate the solar panels to the top of the structure. What they are proposing is not what I expected based on what was being said.  They could also add to the front parking lots on Rocklin Road and simply redo the road to make reaching Sierra Blvd more accessible. If they put even on extra level to those current parking lots, it would make a significant difference. This is typical of the "whatever is easiest" approach that the corporate business model of education is forcing upon campus communities.

14. Do you know if they can video conference in room where the board meeting will be held?  With all this technology, I would hope there is a mechanism to do this!  Thanks.

15.  Part of the Sierra College Nature Preserve has already been devastated by the construction of the J and K lots.  When I was a student the cross-country trail wound through that area, which included a wetland.  So they paved over paradise to put up a parking lot, literally!  Now, they want to take more of it to plant a multi-story building which will impact the stream environment with even more polluted runoff from vehicles.  Oil and other chemicals will go directly into the stream.  The plan definitely must be improved.  

16. Thank  you for your message, your video, and your survey. I have watched your video and completed the survey.

None of my adjunct colleagues had been in formed of any of this until very recently. We have no voice in any decisions. I have been an adjunct in the ESL Department for 12 years. I teach in the DTs. When I heard about this, without seeing your model, I questioned how they could build such a structure in proximity to the nature preserve. I understand from your video that it would encroach on the nature preserve. 

I strongly oppose this decision. I also think their plan for access to the structure is short-sighted. I drive in and out of campus on the current access road on the north side of campus. I think it would create a very serious bottleneck for the volume of traffic entering and exiting the garage, as you mention in the video. 

I hope you get a good response to this message. Thank you again for the time and effort you have invested.

 

17  Hey Sean, this is ......Thank you for the work you and your students put into the garage video, it's gotten a really great response!

The link below is access to the petition we have created. It would be awesome if you could help circulate it.  https://shoutout.wix.com/so/7bMgbuR5b#/main


comments

Parking Garage Over Paradise
Hey, ECOS peeps! On Tuesday at 3pm, the Sierra College Board of Trustees votes on the confirmation of the parking garage location at the Nevada County Campus (NCC)! If you haven't already, check out Professor Sean Booth's video which highlights the garage location and scale. Be sure to share this video with your friends and sign the petition!

shoutout.wix.com

 

18. Thank you very, very much for this email.  I currently teach ESL classes in the portable buildings, and was unofficially just told a week ago about this plan for a parking structure.  Personally, I was horrified and heartbroken to hear about the proposed location.  The side of the campus that is adjacent to the nature area needs to remain essentially as it is, in my opinion.  It is not whatsoever an appropriate location for a parking structure of this magnitude,  and the vehicle traffic (and traffic jams) that will accompany it.  It makes much more sense to build the structure in the huge existing parking lot off of Sierra College Blvd.  A few other suggestions are to build appropriately scaled permanent ESL classrooms and an ESL Language Lab and Resource Center where the existing ESL portable buildings are.  Enhance or widen the current driving path adjacent to the nature area to make it safer, and in addition,  build a footpath for pedestrian safety.  Even build a footpath into part of the nature area and create something like the UC Davis Arboretum so that more instructors and students will be motivated to explore it. But PLEASE do everything in your power to ensure that the natural habitat, which makes the Sierra College campus unique among all of the other community college campuses I teach (or have ever taught) on, is not destroyed by a monstrous, ill-designed, and badly located parking structure. 

 

19.  Image of model with arrow to other J lot. (Shown at very top.)

20.  Great video alerting people to how out-of-place the parking structure looks in its proposed location.  I completed the survey and wrote these comments (attached).  I didn't know where to send them, so I'm sending them to you:)

Upon seeing Sean Booth’s video and then being shown the actual 3-dimensional map of the campus buildings with the parking structure by Joe Medeiros, I was really disappointed in how
it looked-it looked out of place on our beautiful campus, especially when compared to the Nature Area and the current walkways shaded by trees and lined with other plants. And then I started thinking about how our environment affects our emotions and our health. So, I searched for scientific articles on the effects of landscape (or environmental design) on human health, focusing on the restorative effects of natural settings. I admit I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole, viewing articles on ecological psychology, restorative environments, and articles
about hospital patient recovery rates in rooms with no window, window with urban view, and window with view of trees/nature. The studies cannot be directly compared (because they
used different methodologies and outcomes).

People perceive their environment in different ways (depending on their past experiences) and there are various tests for measuring perceived wellbeing by individuals. But in my limited search, I found at least twenty articles that concluded that natural settings such as forests or green landscapes reduced feelings of anxiety, improved mood and subjective vitality, increased mental clarity, and increased patient recovery rates (measured as time until discharge) in hospitals.
Looking at the video and 3-dimentional map made it appear that people’s view of natural settings in the center of campus will be greatly diminished by the proposed location for the parking structure. Is this what we really want for our campus?!

A team of UC Berkeley researchers (let by Richard Scheffler) recently released preliminary data
indicating that the percentage of all students nationally who reported being diagnosed with or
treated for anxiety disorder has doubled in the last 10 years (increasing to 20% in 2018 from
10% in 2008).

With this percentage of students reporting anxiety,it seems that anything we
can do on campus to diminish stress and enhance feelings of wellbeing for students as well as
employees should be done.  Moving the structure away from the heart of campus to an area
where people don’t spend so much of their time might be the best solution....

21.  Thank you- and one more question- is it pretty much a done deal- or is there a possibility they would change they plans?

22. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. My statement is attached and copied below:

Sierra College Trustees:

Colleges and universities need to lead the way for a healthy future
Sierra College has long provided a vision for many – helping us to see the world beyond our little rural county back in the 60’s and 70’s and preparing us well for all levels of higher education.
Placer County is growing fast and our oak woodlands are disappearing. Many citizens are working hard to preserve these beautiful, restorative outdoor environments for our children and grandchildren
The proposed garage is hugely out of character for our campus and a gross misuse of the land entrusted to us.  It looks like a quick, sloppy and obvious solution that will be resented and regretted, if it is built.  
I personally advocated for the recent bond measure.  I explained to my friends and family the need to redo and improve infrastructure and to meet the educational needs of both current and future students.  I feel betrayed by this grotesque use of public funds. 
We can do better.  Use the existing footprints to build additional parking and explore providing innovative transportation options for our students.  (Do you know how hard it is to get to campus without a car?) Use the collective know-how and wisdom of your community, current and past students, and faculty to find forward thinking options.   
Community member and alumnus

TO the Board (Same Person) :
Colleges and universities need to lead the way for a healthy future
Sierra College has long provided a vision for many – helping us to see the world beyond our little rural county back in the 60’s and 70’s and preparing us well for all levels of higher education.
Placer County is growing fast and our oak woodlands are disappearing. Many citizens are working hard to preserve these beautiful, restorative outdoor environments for our children and grandchildren
The proposed garage is hugely out of character for our campus and a gross misuse of the land entrusted to us. It looks like a quick, sloppy and obvious solution that will be vilified for what it destroyed.
I personally advocated for the recent bond measure. I explained to my friends and family the need to redo and improve infrastructure and to meet the educational needs of both current and future students. I almost feel betrayed by this grotesque use of public funds.
We can do better. Use the existing footprints to build additional parking and explore providing better transportation options for our students. (Do you know how hard it is to get to campus without a car?) Use the collective know-how and wisdom of your community and faculty to find forward thinking options.
Sincerely,
xxx - Community member and alumnus

23. I would like to add my thoughts about the parking garage plans.

As a Sierra College graduate, I fondly recall my time at Sierra whenever I drive by on the freeway or visit the campus on Dinosaur Days. Like many members of the general public, I am vaguely aware of the way the campus has grown and expanded over the years, even though I don't follow the year-to-year planning decisions.  My view from the outside has been that since a certain level of growth is both necessary and inevitable, the school seems to have chosen a sensible path forward.

I am, therefore, surprised to see a parking structure of significant height and footprint proposed to encroach on the wooded area that borders the freeway.  Because of its size and location, such a large structure will affect the tree-filled viewscape that so many passers-by have come to enjoy.  And the first question on the minds of many members of the community will undoubtedly be "why would the college do this?"

With acres of asphalt lots bordering Rocklin Rd. and having close access to campus buildings, how could it be seen as anything less than incredibly inconsiderate to the community to encroach upon one of the dwindling number of extensive forested areas that still connect us to our natural heritage?  Such areas are a sacred trust to be managed on behalf of students and citizens alike -- past, present and future.  I believe such a choice to develop and dominate the campus' natural land, over the apparently obvious option of redeveloping existing parking areas, will be a prominent error on display for all to see, and will not reflect well on the college.  

Sierra College is an anchor institution of the greater Rocklin and Placer County community, and with that comes an expectation of stewardship of the public trust.  To those deciding whether to authorize this project:  please reconsider the placement of the new parking structure and show that you truly value the priceless assets under your purview.

24. I am also against the proposed location of the massive parking lot. One of our institutional outcomes is "Develop values and behaviors that respect the natural environment" and our Mission Statement states that our "core values will establish our ethical principles and will guide our institutional decision-making" including "Manage all resources in a manner that is sustainable and responsible". Our board and administration need to uphold these values, we should not remove additional woodlands on our campus when this parking structure can be built on an already existing parking lot footprint such as the K lot.

The current landscape of our campus is beautifully landscaped and many of the older buildings blend into it. Walking around our campus is peaceful for students and the natural setting reduces anxiety. Introducing this massive concrete structure into our internal campus would be heartbreaking. We see enough concrete everyday in Rocklin, please preserve the serene natural beauty of our campus and what we have left of the Nature Preserve. Also, placing the parking structure closer to the entrance of the campus would be best for traffic flow in and out of the parking structure. There is no reason to have more cars coming further into the campus, it just leads to more congestion, noise, and hazards for pedestrians. Just use the S lot for example, there is one entrance and exit and when the campus has had to be evacuated it takes hours to get out of that lot! On the map it looks like there will be one main entrance and exit route for this garage through the K/J lot. This will be a disaster if there is an evacuation.

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More Comments from earlier

 

YouTube Comments:

 

What Can I do

Submit complete the petition, survey and write comments.

The Board of Trustees meets at the Nevada County Campus at 3:00 on Tuesday, May 14th

Laura Doty is the director of facilities and construction - probably the best place to send comments for now.