WHITTIER -- Voters head to the polls March 2 to decide whether to finance $245 million in improvements for Rio Hondo College and officials are hoping the second time will be the charm.

Measure A, a 30-year general obligation bond, is the college's second attempt in two years to help pay for a series of campus improvements ranging from new parking structures to earthquake retrofits and a new police training facility.

Voters in Whittier, El Monte, South El Monte, Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera and unincorporated areas near Whittier will decide whether to approve the bond, which comes with a price tag for property owners within the college district. The bond needs 55 percent of the vote to pass.

Property taxes would go up an additional $25 a year for every $100,000 of assessed property value. However, because the assessed value is usually significantly lower than the market value of a home, college officials estimate the true cost of the bond for the average homeowner in the district will be about $36 more a year.

In November 2002, voters narrowly rejected Measure R, a $194.6 million facilities improvement bond. It was the college's first attempt to pass a facilities improvement bond since Rio Hondo College was built in 1963 for about 4,000 students.

But two things differentiate this bond measure from its failed predecessor.

First, there is no organized opposition. In fact, officials for the Carpenter's Pension Trust, which spearheaded the opposition against the bond last time, now support Measure A.

The trust's opposition was based on its fear that the college planned to use Measure R bond money to take over their property across from the college on Workman Mill Road and use the land to expand the campus.

Now, however, trust officials already have started construction work on a planned industrial park on the property. Rio Hondo College trustees have also passed a resolution that said they don't intend to acquire union property.

The second thing that has changed since Measure R's defeat is the college has adopted a widespread Facilities Master Plan, which lays out exactly what repairs and expansion the college must undertake over the next decade to accommodate enrollment projections that could top 35,000 in 2015. About 24,000 students now attend the college.

The master plan calls for an extra 200,000 assignable square feet of space at the college to accommodate the enrollment boom, or about a 35 percent increase in classrooms and laboratories. That means the college needs to add about 150 average-sized classes and labs on top of the 364 it now has.

Existing buildings would be renovated, and two new multistory academic buildings and a new library/learning center would provide the extra classroom space, officials said.

Other campus improvements would include new parking structures, a new central student academic hub, a new perimeter road, a formal entrance to the college with plenty of short-term parking and a drop-off point for buses or cars, as well as improved lighting for security.

It also calls for new state-of-the-art police and firefighter training facilities, two off-campus centers possibly in South Whittier and El Monte, and an expansion of Rio Hondo's nursing program.

"The total cost of our master plan is $310 million,' said Rio Hondo College President Rose Marie Joyce. "Our costs (for renovating the college) were always over $300 million, but we're able to take care of more of our needs now (with Measure A).'

The remaining $65 million that the bond money won't cover will come from donations provided through public and private partnerships college officials now are working to seek out, Joyce said.

No bond money will be used for salaries.

Andy Howard, Rio Hondo's dean of planning and development, said the most dramatic improvements to the campus will be in accessibility and parking.

"Those are two huge things,' Howard said. "If we had to evacuate the campus right now, that would be a big problem.'

The bond money also will go toward replacing inefficient electrical, heating, air conditioning, sewage, restroom and water systems, removing asbestos and other hazardous materials, and upgrading roofing, wall coverings, painting, flooring and windows.

Joyce said the most recent example of the need for such improvements came to light in December, when natural gas was detected in the college's garage, Campus Inn and library. Officials later discovered that a natural gas leak in a 40-year-old pipe was costing the college $60,000 a year.

"It was, literally, money that was just going into the ground because of the land shifting and pipes breaking,' Joyce said. "We're just pouring money into our infrastructure.'

Officials said an independent agency will perform an audit of the bond expenditures each year, with results available to the public.

A citizens' oversight committee of community and business leaders and a Rio Hondo student will also review and approve bond expenditures.