- Home
- News Grid
- Local News
- Green Hawk
- Politics
- School Zone
- Youth Camps
- Nonprofits
- Missing Pets
- Multimedia
- Arts
- Movies
- Outdoors
- Sports
- News Releases
- Columnists
- Blogs
- Opinions
- Classifieds
- Advertise
- Donate
- Partners
UCSB, County Harden Stance Over Long-Range Plans
UCSB’s Long-Range Development Plan was the center of attention Tuesday afternoon as the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors took in a staff presentation and public comment on the project’s environmental documents.
According to UCSB Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas, the university and the county are deadlocked on the subject of mitigations UCSB should provide for the impacts expected as a result of the proposed development.
“We haven’t closed the gap between what the county is seeking in mitigations and what we feel is our fair share,” said Lucas, who added that some of the numbers on which the county is basing its projections came from a flawed study.
UCSB’s current LRDP calls for development on the campus to accommodate a total student body of 25,000 by 2025, up from about 20,000 today. On the academic side, UCSB will be adding buildings and repositioning others on campus while constructing additional housing to accommodate the students and the faculty and staff needed to support them. The LRDP’s recirculated environmental impact report has lately been the subject of scrutiny by local agencies and jurisdictions.
UCSB, one of the South Coast’s largest employers, is estimated to account for 10 percent of the local economy, resulting in an estimated impact of $1 billion per year. As a state agency, the university is not subject to all the development rules of local jurisdictions, but officials have tried to maintain open relations with surrounding communities.
Given the student population’s proposed increase by 5,000, county staff estimated that about 15,000 people (including the new students) will move to the area as a result: faculty, staff, families and the people needed to support the population and provide services.
Some of the main concerns county staff had tackled were a potential lag period between the increased enrollment and the housing to be provided by UCSB, as well as the increased noise and traffic in the area. Other issues county staff reported involved hazardous waste, blufftop retreat at one of its project sites, and degradation of the Goleta Slough.
“Facilities are going to need improvement,” said Derek Johnson, deputy director at the county’s Planning Department. There would also have to be a commensurate increase in the number of police and firefighters needed to service the increased population, he said.
According to Johnson, the total cost estimate for the capital improvements the county would need to make to serve the campus at current levels comes out to $137 million in one-time costs, and $8.2 million annually to maintain.
The disparity between UCSB’s estimates for mitigation and the county’s are stark at times. The county, for instance, estimates a need for $90 million in road improvements, the university, according to county calculations, is acknowledging a need for $1.9 million of road improvements in its mitigations.
Members of the public, meanwhile, turned out to comment on the staff report and the development plan’s recirculated comments.
“We already have serious problems in IV that remain unaddressed,” said Dianne Conn, president of the Isla Vista Recreation & Park District. Other commenters, like Heal the Ocean’s Hilary Hauser, aired concerns that the increased wastewater flow had not been adequately addressed.
The increase in cars was another issue as Caltrans planner Larry Newland suggested that freshmen not be able to have cars on campus, an idea Lucas said could not happen unless there were an Isla Vista Parking Plan to handle the vehicles parked off-campus.
Other UC towns, like Berkeley and Santa Cruz, said Lucas, agreed to far less in mitigations for their most recent LRDPs, including “a few million” in one-time capital costs and about $1 million annually to maintain. Those amounts were the result of litigation between the cities and UC, he said, adding that UCSB was not interested in going that route.
“We’d like to sit down at the table and work that out,” he said.
The county has less than a week to submit its comments for the recirculated EIR; comment period closes Monday.
“I’m hoping we can continue and improve the dialogue between the university and the county,” said 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr, whose district encompasses the campus.
Click here for more information on UCSB’s Long-Range Development Plan, or to comment on the recirculated environmental impact report.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sonia Fernandez can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
Noozhawk's comments are moderated, but by posting here you accept your responsibility to follow our rules.
- No abusive, defamatory or libelous attacks. In plain English: No personal attacks.
- No vulgar or discriminatory language.
- If you do not follow these rules, don't be surprised if your comment is removed.
- Please use the Report Abuse button on offensive comments.
- Share what you know, ask about what you don't. Give us your eyewitness accounts, observations, background and history. Tell us what else you want to know about the story.
- Stay on the topic, PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK, and forgive people their spelling errors.
Noozhawk's intent is not to limit the discussion of our stories but to elevate it. Thank you for your respectful participation. Click here for our complete Terms of Use.
Comments are moderated, and will not appear until they've been approved.
» on 03.25.09 @ 03:00 AM
Follow the Goleta Water District meeting Friday morning at 10. The proposed Comment letter is posted a their website and addresses the terribly flawed water supply and demand analysis in the EIR.
» on 03.25.09 @ 07:13 AM
We have to choke off the cancer UCSB has become on our community! UCSB is destroying our community. Students are taking over formally single family housing, low wage apartments, and dominating the Santa Barbara downtown with bars and clubs. Houses packed with students not only skew the costs of both owning and renting but drive out families. The sewage systems become overloaded with the demands put on them by houses with five or six adults or more. The same goes for water demands, trash demands. Parking and traffic impacts neighborhood streets, intersections, and highways. The State is trying to plunk a huge big city university down in the middle of a small town. Berkeley is nearby a very large urban area, Santa Barbara is not. UCSB will dominate this area if we let it take over. A student body of 30,000 is the plan - who will run things then? What will become of Goleta and the Santa Barbara we once had and loved? Fight this cancer on our way of life.
» on 03.25.09 @ 02:51 PM
Goleta - the State of CA and Santa Barbara’s dumping ground.
How many more “affordable” units will Goleta have to build to correct the jobs/housing imbalance that our neighbor to the south and the State are exacerbating?
Is there something wrong with the new UC Merced baby campus???
» on 04.09.09 @ 01:59 PM
UCSB sucks.
It’s ruining the south coast.
No more water for UCSB.
» on 04.14.09 @ 08:24 AM
Yes, UCSB is ruining our community.
» on 04.14.09 @ 10:46 AM
Don’t forget “Floatopia” during which UCSB students and others from outside the community crowd the beaches in makeshift rafts, leaving behind broken bottles and trash, all washed out to sea by the tides while costing he community to pay for the mess in law enforcement, cleanup and medical expenses. It is now scheduled to be a monthly event organized on facebook and importing thousands from outside the community, in addition to Halloween. The only benefit is to the liquor store owners.
More Local News »
Council Vote Clears the Way for Single Trash Hauler to Serve Goleta
But it remains unclear whether the city will negotiate a new contract with MarBorg or Allied Waste
Now’s the Time to Make Your Mark on Plan Santa Barbara
The city is in the midst of updating its General Plan, and draft documents will go to the public for comment starting Thursday
Supervisors Grant Permit Extensions for Miramar Hotel
Carbajal wants the developer to provide daily security patrols to curb squatters, and Wolf takes issue with the project's time line
Tips from Public, Police Led Detectives to Shooting Suspects
A couple are arrested in Nevada as the search continues for two other suspects in the attempted murder at a Gillespie Street residence
Supervisors Keep NextG’s Cell-Tower Proposal on Hold
The board directs county staff to take a closer look at the antenna sites and report back
Weather: Fair 74.0º
Search Noozhawk »
