TCC changing with the times

Image courtesy of Tacoma Community College and McGranahan Architects

CAMPUS WETLANDS. This rendering depicts the college’s interest in developing a nature preserve on the campus along South 19th Street.

Much has changed at Tacoma Community College (TCC) since it opened with a few buildings in the West End in 1965. The evolution of the campus has not always meshed well with the climate and technological advances. The old concrete tilt-up structures are not suitable for the infrastructure upgrades a modern college needs, while the wide-open spaces between buildings is more suitable for sunny Southern California than the rain and wind of the Pacific Northwest.

When Dr. Pamela Transue arrived at TCC to become its president in 1997, the college had an established reputation for the quality of education it offered, but many of the facilities were deteriorating.

“It was clear the campus was in deplorable condition,” she recalled. “The buildings were not reflective of the learning taking place inside.”

The number of people learning at TCC has increased considerably. About 9,000 students are enrolled each quarter, including part-time students. Enrollment has gone up in the past few years by around 20 percent, while TCC’s budget for the 2010-11 school year is the same as it was four years ago.

“This is what happens during times of high unemployment,” Transue observed.

McGranahan Architects was hired in 2005 to work on the college’s long-range facilities master plan. Michael McGavick, an employee of the Tacoma firm, said it presented several challenges.

“Historically, the campus and buildings were hidden from the community,” he said, something that did not change until the Science and Engineering Building opened in fall 2007. “That gave the campus some visibility,” he noted.

Parking lots occupy the perimeter on the south, west and north.

“The perimeter did not say this is a college to people,” McGavick said.

Signs and landscaping along South 19th Street have addressed that. The next step is to do the same on the northern boundary along South 12th Street.

Officials with TCC and Pierce Transit have met to discuss the latter’s transit station in the southwest corner.

“They agreed the mutual presence is good for both parties,” McGranahan said.

State funding can be used only for specific purposes. For example, it can be used to build classrooms but not a student center or sports facilities.

There were few sidewalks when Transue arrived. West End Neighborhood Council has provided funding for some sidewalks. TCC must look elsewhere than state money for landscaping, signs and other amenities.

“I think sometimes people have the idea that we are entirely state funded,” Transue said. “That is not the case.”

The northeast corner of the campus, at the intersection of South 12th and Pearl streets, contains the school’s baseball field and a small parking lot. Between there and the main part of campus is an undeveloped area of about 40 acres.

A number of ideas have been tossed about for this area. At one point the college considered putting a golf putting green in. A few years ago Metro Parks considered it for a new swimming pool.

Transue said the plan now is to keep it in its pristine form for the most part.

“It has the opportunity, when we find funding, to be an environmental area for science classes,” McGavick noted, much of it wetlands that have been surveyed. The college wants to keep existing trails, which are often used by the public.

The campus was originally zoned residential, which placed many restrictions on signs along the perimeter. The other main category is commercial, which calls for buildings to be placed near the street. That does not fit a college campus.

“We are not a shopping center,” Transue commented.

TCC is currently in a commercial mixed-use zone, a new category created while the city was drafting changes for neighborhood business districts.

“Since there is no institutional zoning, this is the best alternative,” Transue remarked.

McGavick noted the mixed-use category is aimed to enliven areas near the street.

“That is not always compatible with creating core academic uses on campus.”

While the college is dedicated to sprucing up the perimeter with sidewalks and signs, “it is hard to put a classroom or lab on the street.”

He hopes that eventually the city will establish institutional zoning. For now current and future designs aim to bring people into buildings at lower elevations and funnel them inwards to higher elevations. This was used in the Science and Engineering Building and will be in the future Health Careers Center.

Transue said TCC remains committed to using half a percent of the budget for new buildings for public art and to get them rated through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design process.

Transue has heard much positive feedback on improvements to the campus.

“I have heard from hundreds, if not thousands, of people on how much they like the appearance,” she said. “Hardly a day goes by that I do not hear a positive comment about how the college is shaping up. For our students, it gives them a sense of pride to use facilities and grounds that reflect the quality of education we provide.”

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