October 11, 2004
Public workshop will focus on first draft
of UCSC's next Long-Range Development Plan
By Elizabeth Irwin and
Jim Burns
On Wednesday, October 20, UC Santa Cruz will hold the fifth
in a series of public workshops as part of a multi-year effort
to update the campuss Long-Range Development Plan (LRDP).
The event is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m., in the Sierra Room
of the University Inn, 611 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz.
Intended to describe how the campus might plan for potential
physical development through the year 2020, the draft considers
how it would accommodate a potential campus fall, winter, and
spring average campus enrollment of 21,000 students. That figure
for potential enrollment by the end of the 15-year planning
period was proposed late last spring by the Strategic Futures
Committee, a faculty-led group recommending that number after
several months of analysis of statewide demographic trends,
desired development of existing academic programs, and potential
creation of new academic majors or professional schools.
At the workshop, planning consultants from Cooper, Robertson
& Partners of New York and campus planners will provide
an overview of the first draft of the Long-Range Development
Plan for 2005-20. They will also lead a public discussion of
the draft, which was distributed on October 6 to the campus
and community members serving on the LRDP Committee.
The draft document can be viewed online at UCSCs "Planning
through 2020" web site.
"This draft represents our first attempt to address the
campus's programmatic and enrollment goals that were outlined
by the Strategic Futures Committee, said Tom Vani, vice
chancellor for Business and Administrative Services and chair
of the committee. "While the official definition of this
project only considers the physical planning implications of
enrollment growth on campus, the committee also is attentive
to the concerns of our immediate neighbors and the wider community,
he emphasized. Including community leaders--along with
faculty, students, and staff as members of the LRDP Committee--underscores
that commitment, and the upcoming workshop is another important
opportunity for community members to continue providing their
perspective as we move toward finalization of a plan,
Vani said.
The LRDP draft includes the following highlights:
States a set of principles that balance the universitys
academic, research, and service mission with a commitment to
sustainable development and careful stewardship of a unique
physical environment.
Preserves open space to the maximum extent possible,
including preservation of meadows south of the developed campus
center as undisturbed grassland.
Identifies a combined total of 53 percent of campus
lands as protected landscape, natural reserve, habitat reserve,
and site research and support for the UCSC Arboretum and the
Farm & Garden operated by the Center for Agroecology &
Sustainable Food Systems.
-- 912 acres out of approximately 2,000 total acres for Campus
Natural Reserve and protected landscape
-- 25.5 acres for habitat reserve
-- 152 acres for site research and support
Identifies the Cowell Ranch Historic District site.
Assumes a housing land-use area to accommodate 50 percent
of undergraduates, 25 percent of graduate students, 25 percent
of faculty, and 3 percent of staff. (More than 80 percent of
staff hired at UC Santa Cruz are already Santa Cruz County or
nearby residents.) These figures are based on current consumer
analyses, but enough land is being identified to house as many
as 70 percent of undergraduates, should future demand require
it.
Espouses a goal to minimize use of single-occupant
vehicles traveling to and within the campus, and projects only
slightly more parking than provided in the 1989 LRDP, even with
projection of a larger campus population.
It is expected that the draft Long-Range Development Plan will
be completed in December 2004. At that time, the yearlong process
of an environmental impact study will take place under the requirements
of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). It is anticipated
that the UC Regents will consider the final draft Long-Range
Development Plan and its accompanying environmental impact report
early in 2006.
Within the University of California system, each campus prepares
a Long-Range Development Plan, which is similar to a citys
General Plan, to support its academic goals; the plans also
take into account projected statewide enrollment demand on the
ten-campus higher-education system and other factors.
Upon their completion, the long-range plans define a building
program and a land-use map that serve as a comprehensive planning
framework for capital construction, infrastructure, and land-use
programs. LRDPs are not mandates for growth, nor are they implementation
plans, Vani emphasized, and adoption of an LRDP does not constitute
a commitment to specific projects, construction schedules, or
funding priorities.
The LRDP process that began last fall will produce UCSC's
fifth Long-Range Development Plan, following plans that were
adopted in 1963 (two years before the campus opened), 1971,
1978, and 1989.
A factor in the decision by UCSC officials to use the year 2020
as the planning horizon is the opportunity to align with the
City of Santa Cruz's time frame in preparing a comparable planning
document, its General Plan. The city's General Plan process
will commence at the end of the year.
For more information about the upcoming public workshop on the
first draft of the 2005 LRDP, call (831) 459-2170.
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