Advanced Technology and Applied Sciences moving into the Village towards the end of the 2015 semester

The Advance Technology and Applied Science Division offer various career certificates in technology based programs at Saddleback College. (Photographer/Anibal Santos)

The Advanced Technology and Applied Sciences classes will be moving to the Village section of Saddleback College’s campus while the current ATAS structures undergo construction. The move is tentatively scheduled to begin during the winter break of 2015-2016, said the division’s Acting Dean Anthony Teng.

An interim Automative Technology Department building will be built in parking Lot  1 to accommodate classes during the renovations, Teng said.

The new Auto Tech building will be “12,000 square feet [and] comprised of north and south buildings, with a parking lot between the buildings for exterior classroom functions,” according to South Orange County Community College District plans.

Modular trailers, also known as portable classrooms, adjacent to the west side of parking Lot 2 are also set to be remodeled for ATEP classes.

“They’re renovating portables all over the village to accommodate ATAS classes,” Teng said.

All of the equipment being used in the ATAS Division will have to be temporarily moved as well.

Construction on the temporary ATAS structures is expected to cost $7.2 million and is anticipated to begin January 05, 2015, and be completed by December 20, 2015.

After construction is completed and all classes are returned to the ATAS building, the Village’s Automative Department will be turned into the Facilities and Maintenance Vehicle Services Center for the college.

The construction plans have been underway for years, Teng said, and have included Facilities and Maintenance, Department Planning and the ATAS staff and faculty.

In the current ATAS structure, sections of the first floor in the Silkscreen Room and the Graphic Design Department display cracks on the walls, and the Automotive Technology Department’s auto bay was the site of a water main break in early October, causing campus closure on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8.

The current building will go through much needed exterior and interior renovation that will take approximately two years to complete, Teng said, and once finished, the building will be modernized.

ATAS has over 100 faculty and staff and the division has 29 areas of instruction.

“It is imperative the TAS… construction is completed by 12/20/2015 to allow the educational program to begin and the following ATAS Renovation  project [of the current ATAS structures] to begin,” said one SOCCCD construction plan. If construction of the temporary ATAS class areas is not completed on time, classes risk cancelation, or may remain in the old ATAS structure, delaying its renovation.

Vice President for Instruction Kathy Werle talked about the move in October’s Academic Senate. She addressed that space and classes for the ATAS division will be limited due to the temporary move.

“The scheduling for courses will be more critical than ever before,” Werle said.

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