STOCKTON - San Joaquin Delta College trustees on Tuesday approved spending nearly $4 million for an architect to design its Mountain House campus, despite one trustee's objections that millions in voter-approved money has already gone to other architects.
The college has paid a half-dozen firms nearly $4.2 million for the design of the long-awaited campus, according to figures current through mid-March.
Meanwhile, nothing has been built, Trustee Ted Simas said.
"To me, this is strictly redoing what we've already done," he said. "What we're doing is paying double."
A report requested by Simas shows that the college has paid six different firms various sums to design the Mountain House campus. The largest chunk of money, $2.5 million, went to Fresno-based Darden Architects, which completed artist renderings and even won an award for its work from the American Institute of Architects, San Joaquin chapter, in 2005.
College officials, however, weren't happy. The firm used a "cookie-cutter" approach to create a campus that resembled a junior high school, they said.
"It was a mess," Delta President Raul Rodriguez said.
So the board on Tuesday approved by a 6-1 vote a $3.9 million contract with tBP/Architecture, which has offices in Concord. Simas was the lone vote of dissent.
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