At community workshops earlier this week, UC Davis planners and consultants un-veiled a range of ways UC Davis might plan for student body growth over the next 10 years.
In general, however, the campus is considering one of two tacks: continuing to provide housing mainly to first-year students, or developing a neighborhood for students and faculty and staff members, said Bob Segar, assistant vice chancellor for campus planning.
During the past year, UC Davis planners, architects William McDonough and Partners, and consultants from the design firm Moore Iacofono Goltsman, Inc. (MIG) have been been paring down alternatives for the UC Davis Long Range Development Plan. Most recently, the planners have come up with four alternatives for land use around the university. They are also creating designs for the new campus neighborhood, expected to alleviate the crunch of affordable and available housing in Davis.
The first land-use option, "the baseline plan," according to Segar, limits UC Davis to building enough residences to house a quarter of its students -- the university's current mandate. Under the plan, nearly all development -- 2 million square feet of academic and administrative space, new recreational facilities and research fields -- will be contained between Highway 113 and Interstate 80. The university will also build several parking lots or garages, anticipating that more students and employees will be commuters.
In each of the other land-use options, UC Davis will build housing for 4,100 students and 1,150 faculty or staff members. Two of the alternatives place the new development west of Highway 113 close to Russell Boulevard. Under one final secenario, the residential area would be built at Hamel Ranch -- a parcel due south of downtown Davis and I-80, east of Highway 113, that UC Davis has an option to buy.
No matter the location, the neighborhoods are expected to contain apartments and single family homes, a park, a school, greenbelts, recreation fields and a commercial area with amenities such as a laundromat, salon and cafe.
Five of the six scenarios -- which differ by street pattern, housing density and location of amenities -- also plan for a community education building, which could be developed in partnership with Davis Joint Unified School District or Los Rios Community College District, said MIG consultant Robert Sena.
In Tuesday's morning workshop, about 60 faculty and staff members, students and Davis residents gathered in the Buehler alumni center to hear an overview of the proposed alternatives, then break into small groups to share their views.
Details of the proposed university neighborhoods generated most of the discussion among the audience members.
One group, meeting with Sena, wanted to know about how the area could be accessed from Russell Boulevard for easy access to shopping and city services. Campus Intramurals Director Laura Hall and others mulled how families would enjoy living next to student recreation fields -- a feature of one scenario -- sure to be lit in the evening.
Third-year student Andrew Glass, the chair of ASUCD's external affairs commission, wondered why UC Davis was considering reducing the housing density in some neigbhorhood areas to an average of four persons to an acre, given space constraints.
The location of the community will be enough of a draw, he said.
"If you build something on campus, people will move there because it is convenient," Glass said.
Mel Pabalinas, a Solano County planner, asked about the impact of the development on Putah Creek.
"That is a no-touch zone," Sena said. He added that in all the land-use scenarios the creek, west of Highway 113, was slated for restoration work.
Similar workshops joining members of the campus community and planners were held Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon.
At future public meetings, set for the weeks of April 22 and May 27, the planners, through community input, will have further narrowed the land-use possibilities. UC Davis also hopes to soon have a fiscal analysis of the plans issued, which will help the university guage their viability, Segar said. The top plans will then undergo an environmental impact review during the 2002-03 academic year.
Details of the land-use and neighborhood master plan alternatives presented at the workshops will be available by mid-February at http://growthplanning.ucdavis. edu.