Delta College plan omits north campus
San Joaquin Delta College trustees recently approved longterm plans that would require the passage of another bond to fund proposed projects, which don’t include a north county campus.
The 20-year plan calls for hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of improvements at the main campus in Stockton as well as the south county satellite campus in Mountain House, but leaves out any mention of a north county center that has been discussed for the past 11 years.
The 5-2 vote last Tuesday came after Trustee Catherine Mathis suggested looking at other options.
“Throwing Lodi under the bus isn’t palatable for me at all,” she said.
The absence of a north county campus in the plan doesn’t mean one will never be built, administrators responded.
But right now, Delta is struggling with declining enrollment.
“There is no way the Chancellor’s Office would accept an application for a center. Anywhere. It doesn’t matter where it is,” Trustee Teresa Brown said.
Bill Huyett, a former superintendent of Lodi Unified School District who has served as chairman on a local committee advocating for a Lodi campus, expressed disappointment that Delta College is not making plans for a north county campus.
While he was understanding about Delta’s declining enrollment, he was confident that the Lodi area is developing quickly enough to justify some sort of satellite facility, even a small one.
In 2004, voters approved the $250 million Measure L bond for improvements at the main Delta campus in Stockton and expansion to Tracy, Mountain House and Lodi. In 2006, the college purchased 168 acres of land between east Highway 12 and the Mokelumne River for $9 million. At the time, the proposed Lodi campus was expected to cost $17 million. A few months after the land in Lodi was purchased, Delta officials admitted that the projected $50 million cost of the Tracy/Mountain House campus had nearly tripled.
Then in 2007, Delta purchased 140 acres of Galt property at Highway 99 and Liberty Road for $2 million and Galt officials expressed interest in building a satellite campus in their city.
The Delta College Board of Trustees voted to suspend construction of a Lodi campus due to dwindling bond funds in 2011, and in 2012 the board allocated $15 million of the Measure L contingency funds for to build a north county center, choosing Galt as the site for their new campus. Now, both cities have been put on hold.
On Monday, Delta College Trustee Richard Vasquez, who represents the Lodi and Galt areas, said that due to decreased Measure L funds, Delta plans to focus its efforts on improving existing campuses and raising enrollment before proposing a new bond in 2018.
A copy of the recently passed master plan received from Vasquez lists a number of proposed projects. At the Stockton campus, Danner Hall will be renovated into a student center, and new buildings such as a health science building, police station and police academy will be built. The Mountain House Campus, which has been using portables since it opened in 2009, will receive two new permanent buildings with room for solar panels.
Delta officials are waiting for the demand for classes in the Lodi/Galt area to increase before opening a north county campus.
“The omission of funding for a north county or Lodi campus comes as no surprise. The Delta College administration clearly wants to spend the remaining Measure L funds on the Stockton Campus,” said Pat Patrick, President and CEO of the Lodi Chamber of Commerce.
“Most everyone I know in this community is very disheartened that promises made years ago were never met, and will be very unlikely to support the next bond from Delta College.”