Students at the College of the Canyons Canyon Country campus will begin seeing construction on a new set of permanent buildings soon, according to school officials.

With the passing of Measure E, College of the Canyons officials are hoping to see work begin quickly on some of the projects promised by the bond.

“We’ve been planning for this for some time,” said Bruce Fortine, president of the COC board of trustees. “Our crews are ready to hit the road.”

The timeline for construction to begin on projects paid for by the $230 million bond has not yet been nailed down, but Fortine is optimistic that it will begin this summer.

“It’s not going to take very long (to see results),” he said. “We’ve been on the starting block, and we’re ready to run the race.”

One of the first projects to be rolled out will be the construction of permanent buildings at the school’s Canyon Country campus.

“The Canyon Country campus is all temporary buildings and those are not designed to last very long,” said Fortine. “They’ve already been there close to 10 years. We will be phasing those out as we build permanent buildings.”

The buildings will be constructed over a period of years, one or two at a time in order to mitigate the impact on students.

“(We) can’t disrupt the students,” Fortine emphasized.

Another early project will be the construction of a 1,000-car parking structure at the Valencia campus.

“The valencia campus is in desperate need of a parking lot,” said Fortine. “I have to drive around the lot looking for a spot just like everybody else.”

The location for the parking structure has already been decided. It will be placed in lot seven, at the intersection of Rockwell Canyon Road and Valencia Boulevard.

Related Story: Measure E’s Potential Impacts On College Of The Canyons’ Canyon Country Campus

The need for new parking is due, Fortine said, to the growing number of students attending COC.

These projects are the first priority for administrators.

“Our initial priorities are moving forward with the parking structure at the Valencia campus and the key project for Canyon Country is the science lab,” said Eric Harnish, the vice president of public information for the college. “We’re working to make that happen as quickly as possible. It’s critical to make sure future students have access to the same education COC is known for.”

As well as more space for students, officials have repeatedly said that the campus desperately needs modernization.

“The upgrades (we have planned) are very serious. some of our buildings were built in the early 70s. In those days, we didn’t have computers,” said Fortine. “We didn’t have the technologies we have today, and we need to modernize those buildings.”

He explained that programs that these buildings were originally designed for no longer exist — including a class on how to operate a microwave. With the development of new technologies and programs, he said, wifi and computer wiring need to be embedded into the campus infrastructure.

“Some of the programs those buildings were built for don’t exist,” he said. “Modernization is very much needed.”

Harnish agreed, adding that the community supporting the college was the reason for the measure’s passage. 

“The community wants to see the college expand access to high quality education,” he said. “Measure E will allow us to do that.”