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The Associated Students UCLA is already starting some of the renovation projects that could have been delayed if it were not for the passage of the SAFE referendum two weeks ago.

The SAFE referendum, named for its relevance to students, activities, facilities and employees, instituted a gradual yearly increase in the annual fees students pay to ASUCLA from $7.50 this year to $55.50 in 2009-2010. The fee will be adjusted for inflation every three years after that.

At Friday’s services committee meeting, ASUCLA management said it is working with designers to have several projects in Ackerman Union done by the end of summer.

These projects include the first stage of upgrades to the Cooperage on Ackerman Union’s A-level to include Taco Bell and the renovation of the X-Cape Arcade, located next to the Cooperage, into a juice bar and lounge. The student association is also hoping for a healthy foods bar to be added to Ackerman’s first floor.

“We’re going forward as fast as we can,” said Bob Williams, ASUCLA’s interim executive director, at the meeting. He noted that ASUCLA is planning a capital project to be started almost every year over the next 10 years.

The future impacts of many of the projects, which could include noise, dust and disrupted traffic flow, is uncertain, as the project planning takes place closer to the proposed start date of a project to put building code changes and equipment changes into account, Williams said.

One of these long-term projects, the renovation of the North Campus Student Center (which includes Northern Lights), may start in about 10 years and could be allocated $10 million, according to a capital expenditures plan in ASUCLA’s five-year forecast.

While the impacts of these future projects have not yet been assessed, work on the South Campus Student Center, which would replace the Bombshelter, is slated to start as soon as 2006-2007 and could add to the area’s ongoing construction projects.

Currently, renovation and construction projects are in progress throughout and nearby the Court of Sciences, where the Bombshelter is located. Five separate projects are in varying degrees of completion: the California NanoSystems Institute, the Santa Monica/Orthopaedic Replacement Hospital, the LaKretz Hall and Auditorium and the two replacement Health Sciences buildings.

According to the UCLA Capital Programs Web site, the replacement hospital is estimated to be completed in December 2007, while the NanoSystems Institute is estimated to be completed by March 2005, according to the institute’s building manager, Wendy Morris.

While it is possible that many of the projects in the Court of Sciences could still be ongoing as the South Campus Student Center is being built, the university is also prepared to handle construction concerns.

“Consideration will be given to pedestrian and vehicular impacts, as well as noise, dust and visual concerns that go along with any major project,” wrote Tom LaVanne, director of construction services for UCLA Capital Programs, in an e-mail.

While designs are still being determined and contracts are being negotiated, ASUCLA has several considerations to make as it embarks on renovations to minimize the impact to the campus community and the financial impact to itself, Williams said.

“We won’t go down a path that will tie things up with other projects,” he said.

To decrease the impact of renovations, Williams said the association would try to time the projects to occur over the summer, but noted that some projects could start before the summer or extend into the following fall quarter.

And in order to minimize the association’s impact on customers and its own finances, ASUCLA plans capital projects to occur one at a time. If a popular food eatery is closed during renovation, its menu or parts of its menu would be served at open facilities.

“Customers are very important to us, and we don’t want to lose any customers in the construction period,” Williams said.