The building filled with computers marked "Graphic Design Studio" at Las Positas College has something you wouldn't expect inside.

A dry-erase board, permanently marked with music staffs, used to teach music theory.

"They're very flexible," college president Karen Halliday said about the students, who at times have both activities going on in the room at the same time.

More classroom space is one of many items to be paid for if Measure B, a bond measure to bring $498 million in new buildings and renovations to Las Positas College in Livermore and Chabot College in Hayward, is passed by voters on March 2.

The two colleges comprise the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District.

Supporters say Las Positas needs the projects to accommodate a fast-growing enrollment. Critics say the plans are too extravagant.

For Las Positas, the measure would bring $217.3 million in projects, mainly new buildings on the 147-acre property, which college officials have estimated is only 60 percent developed.

"We've got a huge amount of land that's not used," said Halliday, pointing to a grassy field east of the library where new sports facilities would be built with Measure B money.

At Chabot, the measure would pay for $253.2 million in projects, mainly for improvements to 1960s-era buildings. Both schools would benefit from $27.2 million in technology upgrades and maintenance.

The district estimates the measure will cost property owners $19.88 each year for each $100,000 of a property's assessed value for 25 to 30 years. The average assessed value in the district is $216,000, which would mean an average annual cost of about $43, according to the district. With interest, it will end up costing $1 billion to pay back, said district spokeswoman Jennifer Aries.

The district's voters and its property taxpayers mainly live in Castro Valley, Sunol, Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, Hayward, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and Union City. The measure needs approval from 55 percent of voters to pass.

Halliday said a proposed arts center is needed not only for the arts, but for large meetings such as orientation for new students and with employees.

"We literally had to meet in the hallways," she said of one orientation meeting. "We don't have a space that will even hold all of our full-time employees."

Currently, a portable building serves as the Career/Transfer/Employment Center. On Thursday, there was tax help and a representative from Cal State Hayward meeting with potential transfer students at the same time in the building's one large room.

"There's no room for confidentiality," said Lettie Camp, the center's coordinator. Workers try to use the few offices there for privacy, which is important as financial decisions and possibly bad grades are discussed, but it is hard.

Because of state cuts, Las Positas College had to cut 200 class sections before the fall 2003 semester, Halliday said. She estimates Las Positas turned away about 1,500 students for the current school year.

However, the district expects the growth will return. Enrollment at Las Positas has grown 5 percent to 8 percent annually during the past several years, compared with 4 percent to 6 percent for the state community college system as a whole.

With class cuts forced by the state budget, the college dropped from about 8,600 last year to about 8,000 students this year. However, the student population will still reach 15,000 by 2014, Aries said.

Ask students about the bond, and many know little about the measure, but say they know what they need.

"Sometimes I have to sit on the floor" because of overcrowding in classes, said Megan Streich, 20, a second-year student trying to become a teacher. She lives with her parents in Pleasanton.

Bryan Garrido, 19, of Tracy said the campus isn't overcrowded now, but it will be as more college students are steered to community colleges before attending the University of California or CSU campuses.

"Colleges like this are going to be full," said Garrido, a first-year student.

There are no arguments against the measure in the Alameda County elections materials sent to voters. But a group of Castro Valley residents is opposing the measure, saying the amount of money is unnecessary.

"I think it's total overkill," said Art Vargas, a public information officer for the college district in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and a longtime, former Castro Valley Sanitary District board member.

He asks why the new Diablo Valley College campus in the Dougherty Valley in San Ramon is being built for far less.

The first phase of that campus should open in 2006, said Grant Cooke, spokesman for Diablo Valley College, part of the Contra Costa Community College District. The entire project can serve 2,500 full-time students, or 6,000 part-time students.

But he cautions that the $26.4 million the district is spending is low because cities, Alameda County and home developers Windemere (which also donated the land) also are contributing costs because the athletic facilities and a library will be open to the general public. Cooke did not have total costs.

Halliday says if Measure B fails, the college will continue trying to get money from the state but will not meet the community college demands of the area.

The only project that could be funded by the state's Proposition 55 bond measure on the same ballot, which would fund $12.3 billion in projects, is the multi-disciplinary classroom building.

If the state bond passes, money that would have gone toward the building would have to be used toward one of the other specified projects, Halliday said.

MEASURE B PROJECTS

Here are the Las Positas College projects that would be paid for by Measure B on the March 2 ballot, which needs 55 percent approval to pass. It is expected all would be completed within 10 to 12 years.

• Multidisciplinary classroom building, $11.57 million -- lecture rooms, computer labs, large classroom wired for distance education, study space and office space for staff.

• Child development center/classrooms, $6.7 million -- on-campus space for the Early Childhood Development Program and includes teaching, demonstration and observation rooms.

• Arts center, $31.3 million -- includes a 500-seat theater and music lab.

• Science Technology Phase II, $10.97 million -- expands the current science technology center with labs, study areas, classrooms and offices.

• Physical Education Phase II, $22.16 million -- district is currently soliciting bids for the first phase, a gym, paid for by a past state bond measure. The second stage would include a swimming pool, grass playing fields, tennis courts, a track and basketball/volleyball courts.

• Student Services center, $31.04 million -- two-story building to house services such as counseling, admissions, records and financial aid; also a cafeteria and student government offices.

• Classroom/lecture hall, $13.56 million.

• Classroom renovations, $22 million.

• Library renovation/expansion, $3.73 million.

• Maintenance and operations center, $2.81 million.

• Central services building, $4.13 million.

• Campus repairs, including sewer and storm drains, $27.11 million.

• Instructional equipment, $14.26 million.

• Computers and equipment for classrooms and labs, $9.09 million.

• Information technology services, $4.83 million. This would house the college district's computer and technology services, which are now at Chabot.

• Site preparation, $2.03 million. This would pay for infrastructure and site development such as electrical and plumbing work, extending the campus computer network and safety lighting.

Districtwide projects:

• Industrial technology and technology upgrades, $11.58 million.

• Ongoing maintenance and repair, $15.58 million