LIVERMORE -- If the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District is to regain its place as one of the most prominent systems in the country, it must upgrade facilities and build new classrooms, officials said.

"We are turning thousands of students away because we don't have enough space for them, and we don't have the resources to rent facilities off campus," said Karen Halliday, president Las Positas College in Livermore.

The story is similar at Chabot College in Hayward. Through the years, as buildings have deteriorated and state funding has dwindled, the college has lost some of its luster, said Robert Carlson, president of Chabot College.

Carlson wants to help return the district to its rightful place in the hierarchy of community colleges, but restoring the system's appeal will continue to be daunting unless voters approve Measure B.

"To gain some of that prominence back, we need the passage of Measure B," he said. "We'd like to take this 40-year-old campus and bring it back to life. The community has to pay for it, no matter what happens in the community college system. The state has chosen not to pay the freight.

"So it really comes back to the community."

Property owners in the area served by the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District will be asked to approve Measure B on March 2. The 25-year measure, which would provide $496 million for the beleaguered district, needs 55 percent voter approval to succeed.

The money would be split between Chabot and Las Positas community colleges, with Las Positas receiving about $217 million to upgrade aging buildings and build new facilities.

One of the most expensive parts of the Las Positas plan is a $31 million, two-story, 65,000-square-foot student services building. This building would house counseling, admissions, financial aid and a cafeteria. Currently these services are scattered throughout the campus.

Another $31 million would be directed to a new college center for the arts.

This building will address "the growing community demand for courses in music, dance and speech," according to a district facilities plan. In addition, the theater would become the campus' first large assembly area.

The plan also calls for spending $22 million on outdoor physical education areas. The project includes a swimming pool, grass playing fields, tennis courts, an outdoor running track, and basketball and volleyball courts.

More than $60 million would be devoted exclusively for a wide range of new classrooms.

Most importantly, the bond would allow the college to serve more students, Halliday said. The college has 7,300 students but had to turn away thousands more because of a lack of teaching space. Long-range plans call for serving 15,000 by the year 2012, which will be possible only if additional classes are built.

Chabot would stand to gain about $250 million for upgrades and new buildings if the bond passes. Many of the buildings at the 42-year-old campus are in need of major renovations or expensive repair, officials said.

"If we don't repair and renovate Chabot College in the near future, we're going to have serious problems with the infrastructure," said Jennifer Aries, district spokeswoman. "It's critically important to the institution. We need new roofs. Some of the buildings are deteriorating. And the state doesn't provide us with enough money to take care of these things."

Thus, it's up to the voters in Hayward, San Lorenzo, San Leandro, Castro Valley, Union City, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton and Sunol to bail the district out.

A poll in May 2003 suggested more than enough voters would approve the bond. The poll showed 71 percent of respondents would support the bond. Pollsters surveyed 350 people in the area served by Chabot and 250 people in the Las Positas district.

With any bond, there's a cost to residents, but Carlson considers it to be a minimal investment that could help increase property values. Property owners would pay about $19.88 per $100,000 of assessed value of their homes.

"When you take the entire district, the average (assessed value of the homes) is about $216,000," Aries said. Under that formula, property owners would pay about $50 a year per household.

District officials like Measure B's chances, but the bond could fall victim to the fickle nature of voters, who just a few months ago voted to recall Gov. Gray Davis and hand the governorship over to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Carlson said phone-bank volunteers have not seen an erosion of support since Schwarzenegger was elected governor.

"We had about 3,000 contacts last month, and we can probably count on two hands the absolute no's (votes)," Carlson said. "We think we're pretty well supported by the community."

With so many measures and propositions planned for the March 2 ballot, there are many who believe area residents will suffer from ballot-overload and simply reject Measure B.

Again, Carlson believes otherwise. "Our bond consultant is of the opinion that bond measures help each other, because they bring people to voting booth," Carlson said.