SPARC referendum, expansion to start

  KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Organizations
currently located in the Student Retention Center will be affected
by the implementation of the SPARC referendum.

By Michaele Turnage
Daily Bruin Reporter

Tenants of the Men’s Gymnasium will soon begin to pack
their bags and move so construction initiated by the Student
Programs, Activities and Resource Complex may begin.

As a result of its student approval in May 2000, the SPARC
referendum will mark the third time in UCLA history where students
voted to increase student fees to pay for the construction of
student facilities.

SPARC will fund the expansion of the John Wooden Center and the
renovation of the Men’s Gym. The Federal Emergency Management
Agency, the state of California and UCLA will pay for the seismic
renovations to Men’s Gym and the construction of Wooden
North.

“I think they should make Wooden a little larger because
when you go there during “˜happy hour’ it’s really
crowded and you have to wait longer to use the machines,”
said Nonye Alozie, a third-year biology student.

Chris Cantore, a third-year English student who was shocked by
the cracks in Men’s Gym, agreed.

“The benefits outweigh any temporary inconveniences
because right now the building is a blemish if you actually go
inside it,” he said.

The $37.25 million SPARC project plan will construct Wooden
West, which will provide a 6,800 square foot addition to
Wooden’s weight room and a new home for Outdoor Adventures
and Student Psychological Services, and coinciding renovations to
the Men’s Gym.

Men’s Gym improvements will provide air-conditioning, more
office and meeting room space, and give the interior of the
building a more modern, clean look.

Previous referenda funded the construction of Ackerman Student
Union in 1958 and the Wooden Center in 1978. Students said the
SPARC referendum will create a welcome change.

Students will begin paying for the improvements in increments of
$84 per student each year in 2004, or when the project is finished.
Since the $51 per year student fee used to build Ackerman will
reduce to $7.50 in 2002, students will only see an increase of
$13.50 in student fees.

UCLA contributed $2 million to the project, while students fees
will account for $35.25 million of the construction costs.

In addition to aesthetic improvements, the SPARC committee has
planned for the restoration of the basketball court, the creation
of meeting rooms for use by club sports (which have never had a
home before), benches where students can sit and relax, and a
larger venue that could be used for events like graduations, said
SPARC coordinator Judie Holland.

Planners have also proposed to rename the building the
“Student Activities Center.”

As one of the many buildings that sustained significant damage
in the Jan. 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Men’s Gym
will also undergo seismic renovation.

Even before the 1994 quake, the Men’s Gym was scheduled to
be one of nine historical buildings on campus to be seismically
upgraded via a state program because they were rated by the UC as
seismically “poor” on a scale of poor-fair-good.

These buildings were built in the 1930s, before earthquake
regulations went into effect.

“The building has been allowed to deteriorate over the
years. It’s not anybody’s fault, but you don’t
want to put a lot of money into a building you’re going to
renovate,” Holland said.

Despite the more urgent need for seismic renovation due to the
Northridge earthquake, architects must take care to preserve
historically significant aspects of the building.

The nearly 70-year-old Men’s Gym is considered a
historical resource by the State of California. Because of this
special status, plans to alter the building must be approved by the
State Historical Preservation Office.

“These buildings represent an important example of the
collective heritage of the university system, and it is part of the
physical embodiment of history of the campus and a living physical
reminder to generations of students as to the heritage that is the
campus and the things it stands for,” said Hans Kreutzberg,
chief of Project Review for SHPO.

The exterior of the building, two drinking fountains, heating
units that stopped working years ago, and wood paneling on walls
and doors are among structures installed during original
construction of the building that cannot be altered due to their
historical significance.

Though the Men’s Gym will finally undergo renovation, many
students interpreted the gaping cracks and other visible damage to
the building as neglect on the part of the university and worried
about the building’s safety.

But university officials confirmed that the Men’s Gym and
other buildings rated “poor” are safe.

“If they were not safe they would be red-tagged and
vacated. Our fire marshall would not allow us to occupy these
buildings,” said Zahra Farimani, project manager at UCLA
Capital Programs, which oversees construction at the
university.

The FEMA, the state and UCLA will pay a combined $15.25 million
to reinforce the building with shear walls and other seismic
improvements.

“(Shear walls) are essentially what will stand the seismic
forces. The shear walls are made of steel and concrete, and in this
case they are applied to existing walls and sometimes added to
strengthen the building,” Farimani said.

FEMA, the state of California, and UCLA will pay an additional
$10 million to construct Wooden North, a nearly completed extension
of Wooden built to temporarily house organizations displaced during
the renovation of Men’s Gym.

“Staging has become complex because we didn’t have
enough room in Wooden North so we are using Hershey Hall,”
Holland said.

Members of displaced organizations like the Student Retention
Center also voiced concerns about where they would be moving.

“We needed to make sure that our projects remained
accessible students,” said vice-chair of the CRC Roseanne
Gutierrez, who also served as the Undergraduate Student Association
Council Academic Affairs Commissioner this year.

She explained that SRC, which was scheduled to move to Wooden
North, voiced fears that construction near the building would deter
students from coming to the projects. As a result, the SRC will
move to Kerckhoff Hall instead.

Hardy Holzman Pfieffer Associates, the architect for the
Men’s Gym and Wooden West, has been working with the SPARC
committee and future tenants to design both buildings.

“The main work of the architects was to meet with the
tenants of the building, so that the people moving in have the
space that works for them,” Holland said. “The tenants
were involved at every level in what we call program
meetings.”

Construction for the project will take place in two phases.
Phase zero, scheduled to begin on Sept. 4, 2001, includes
demolition and abatement.

This process will prepare Men’s Gym for construction by
removing interior walls, heating and plumping systems and
contaminated materials such as lead dust left by a rifle range on
the ground floor and asbestos left by linoleum tiles used in past
years.

The second phase is the actual start of construction where
actual renovations will occur starting in January 2002. Project
planners hope to complete construction by October 2003.

Construction of Wooden West is scheduled to start on May 1, 2002
and to finish in October 2003.

While Wooden West construction may elevate campus noise
pollution, Men’s Gym renovations will be quieter because they
will take place inside the building, Holland said.

“The largest problem you have is trucks coming in and
bringing in building supplies,” Holland said.

Despite the inconvenience of moving and the dust of
construction, students are optimistic about the SPARC plan.

“For the most part we are happy that SPARC got passed,
that we are moving to Kerckhoff, and that next year this building
will be renovated to ensure that student efforts for retention,
outreach and service will continue,” Gutierrez said.