LBCC board wants $990M for campus improvements. Voters will decide in November
If approved, the measure would increase property taxes by $25 per $100,000 of assessed value for properties in Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill and Avalon.
Does Long Beach City College need $990 million for campus improvements? That’s a question voters will decide in November after the college district’s board of trustees voted Wednesday night to place a bond measure on the ballot.
If voters approve the bonds, the proceeds would go toward new construction and renovations at both the Liberal Arts Campus in East Long Beach and the Trades, Technology and Community Learning Campus in Central Long Beach.
The bonds would increase property taxes by $25 per $100,000 of assessed value for properties in Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill and Avalon.
The measure will need 55% or more of voter support to pass.
“We have some buildings that are over 70 years old that we’re still using as working space, learning space, and we need to go through and renovate like any other homeowner,” Trustee Uduak Joe Ntuk said Wednesday.
Ntuk said an assessment of the college shows the need is closer to $1.5 billion but that the board is asking for a more reasonable amount of funding from voters.
The five-member board voted unanimously to place the issue on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The college published a list of potential projects that could be covered by bond proceeds, including a new amphitheater and Middle College High School at the TCC where Long Beach Unified School District students would be able to earn college credits as well as participate in internship programs and other community service activities.
The TCC could also see other improvements like solar shade structures in its parking lots as well as a tiny home village for unhoused students — something the college and the city are in discussions over.
Improvements at the Liberal Arts Campus could include a new welcome center and a new college center with food options and a student activity center. A new library and learning resource center are also planned for the East Long Beach campus.
Part of the bond funding is expected to go toward student housing projects like the one in North Long Beach that has already been approved and potentially hundreds more units at the Liberal Arts Campus along Clark Avenue.
The housing is part of a larger project that could see the college rebuild the 74-year-old Veterans Memorial Stadium, which officials said is seismically unsafe due to its age. But the stadium project is expected to be paid for with previously approved bond proceeds.
The potential housing project would be located between the stadium complex and the new library, according the project list.
The bonds could allow the college to go after state and federal grant funding, joint funding partnerships or public-private investments, which could make the $990 million bond proceeds go farther, officials said.
However, if the college can’t bring in additional funding outside of the bonds, it’s possible not all projects on the list will break ground.
The LBCC bond measure will join three other city measures also voted onto the November ballot this week. Those measures include two that could change how the city and Harbor Department hire employees and another that could strip away a utility tax exemption from two power plants in the city.
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