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Welcomed news on Palomar College center

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It only took a few moments during last week’s board meeting, but a 3-0 vote by Palomar Community College District trustees will have a positive effect on our community for decades to come.

By mid-2018 the ribbon will be cut on a three-story South Center in Rancho Bernardo that will initially be used by more than 2,800 equivalent full time students, most coming from the southern portion of the district that has been underserved by the college. That number could grow to 5,600 students by 2035.

The classrooms and related services will be housed in an 110,000-square-foot shell building at 11111 Rancho Bernardo Road that was built, but never occupied. It is one of three similar-sized buildings approved years ago by the City of San Diego, but the other two were never constructed. The college district used some of the proceeds from a 2006 voter-approve bond issue to purchase the structure in 2010.

As envisioned, the South Center will offer traditional college transfer classes to students who want to begin their college education close to home. For Palomar, the new center is seen as a way to prevent many of those students from attending classes within the San Diego Community College District to the south. A survey of fall 2014 enrollments showed that while 30 percent of 8,000 eligible students living in the southern part of the district attend Palomar College, 58 percent of them leave the district to attend classes. That’s revenue that Palomar College is out to recover.

While specific classroom offerings are still under development, the district also intends to have career technical programming at the South Center as well.

Understandably, having thousands of students driving to and from the new campus raised some on-street parking concerns among RB residents living in homes across from Rancho Bernardo Road. As approved last week, the South Center will have on-site parking for 737 vehicles, plus room for more, if needed. College officials noted that only 480 are needed under city building standards and that students will arrive and leave at staggered times throughout the day and evening, unlike the commuter traffic typically generated by an office building. Student parking fees will be waived the first year, they said, and will be re-evaluated annually.

Time will tell, but there does not seem to be much of a downside to having a small community college campus in Rancho Bernardo. We look forward to its completion and contributions to our region.

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