Public comments sought for Long Range Development Plan
BERKELEY – The University of California, Berkeley, is drafting a new land use plan that will help shape the look, feel and academic direction of the campus for the next 15 years.
| LRDP Scoping Meeting Monday, Sept. 22, 5-9 p.m. Clark Kerr Campus Krutch Theater 2601 Warring Street, Berkeley |
The campus's current Long Range Development Plan runs through 2005 and will be replaced with a new plan that will direct UC Berkeley's growth and development from 2005 to 2020.
"We are developing a visionary plan that will help us define where growth will take place, what kinds of growth will take place and what kinds of facilities we will need to remain a cutting-edge university," said Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl.
"The new long range plan will help us ensure that this will remain an attractive and innovative place, recruiting new generations of students and faculty to this incredibly special place that is UC Berkeley."
UC Berkeley officials are inviting the public to view initial concepts for the 2020 plan at a Sept. 22 meeting at the Clark Kerr campus.
The public also is invited to send written or e-mailed comments about the conceptual plan and the scope of the plan's environmental impact report. The official public comment period for this phase of the review opened Aug. 29 and will conclude Sept. 29.
The environmental analysis will include an assessment of the Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies, the first project to be built under the new land use plan. The center is to be located on campus across the central glade from the main library.
The initial concepts guiding development of the 2020 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) are based on academic goals and facilities guidelines contained in two important campus reports - the Strategic Academic Plan and the New Century Plan. The goals include:
- Renewing the campus with state-of-the-art facilities, where both undergraduate and graduate students will learn through active participation in research in the public interest.
- Concentrating academic programs on and around the core campus.
- Providing more students with reasonably priced housing within walking distance or within a 20-minute transit ride.
- Setting limits on enrollment. The UC system directed the campus to accept 4,000 additional students between 1998 and 2010. The new plan would recommend limiting future enrollment growth to maintain academic excellence and a strong intellectual community.
- Adopting design standards that preserve and enhance the historic legacy of the campus's landscape and architecture, and that encourage social interaction and academic collaboration.
- Partnering with the city and private developers on mixed-use developments that focus on the economic and cultural vitality of downtown Berkeley.
To meet these goals, a 2020 plan will consider various options for campus growth including up to an 18 percent increase in academic and support space, up to a 30 percent increase in campus housing and up to a 30 percent increase in parking. The vast majority of this growth in academic and support space, more than 90 percent, would occur on and around the central campus.
The UC Board of Regents requires each campus to update its Long Range Development Plan every 15 to 20 years to address current and projected needs.
UC Berkeley will conduct a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the new plan as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The land use plan and its environmental analysis are being prepared simultaneously so that findings of the environmental analysis can help shape the plan.
Following the initial public comment period underway this month, UC Berkeley will create a draft 2020 LRDP. It is scheduled to be completed and available for public review in Spring 2004. In late 2004, the plan and environmental report will be sent to the UC Board of Regents for consideration.
More information on the 2020 Long Range Development Plan is online. The Sept. 22 public meeting will take place at the Krutch Theater of the Clark Kerr Campus, 2601 Warring St. in Berkeley. Individuals are invited to come by any time between 5 and 9 p.m.
"UC Berkeley has a proud heritage of providing academic excellence and research in the public interest," said William Webster, professor and vice provost for academic planning and facilities. "Our goal for a new long-range plan is to preserve and even enhance that heritage while providing a way for the university to meet the academic, instructional and facilities demands it will encounter over the next 15 years."
Comments about the scope of the new LRDP and EIR may be made at the Sept. 22 public meeting or sent to Jennifer Lawrence, Capital Projects, 1936 University Ave., Suite 300, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1382. E-mailed comments may be sent to 2020LRDP@cp.berkeley.edu.