Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle denied a petition filed by opponents of Westmont College’s expansion plan in a hearing on Tuesday.
The ruling upholds a decision made last February by the County Board of Supervisors that unanimously backed the Christian liberal arts college’s Master Plan, which documents the school’s intention to build a new residence hall, a visual arts center, a building dedicated to science and mathematics, a chapel and other buildings in the future.
Westmont officials have said that the proposed 350,000 square feet of new facilities are badly needed improvements to the campus; neighbors are concerned over what they see as a possible change to the rural nature of their neighborhood and potential increase in traffic. Anderle’s decision stated that the recently updated Master Plan “will not result in Westmont building skyscrapers or in any way abandoning the largely rural nature of its campus.” Furthermore, the new construction would not be seen from outside the campus, according to Anderle’s written decision.