The first formal, public discussion of how the campus can best frame its future will bring together regional community leaders and key campus representatives from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, in the University Club Lounge.
These 20 members of the chancellor's Long-Range Development Plan Advisory Committee will begin considering how the campus should plan to accommodate an additional 5,000 to 6,000 students over the next 10 years-Davis' "fair share" of the additional 60,000 students expected to enroll in the University of California between now and 2010-11.
This anticipated growth, at the rate of 2.2 percent annually up to a total of 30,000-31,000 students by 2010, is expected to generate a significant increase in the number of campus employees and spur additional facility construction.
A new LRDP, while responding to the academic priorities of the campus, will identify the required land and facilities to accomplish the anticipated growth.
"The campus, however, is more than physical facilities," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef in a letter to committee appointees. "We are a community with a daytime population of over 30,000 people, engaged in the enterprise of higher education, forming friendships and associations, and gaining experiences that can be among the most memorable in a lifetime."
So the LRDP review will solicit answers to these broader questions, Vanderhoef said:
- What kind of community do we want to be?
How can we provide housing for more members of our campus community with minimal impact on regional air quality and transportation systems?
More generally, how can we simultaneously grow as an educational institution and contribute to the quality of life, both on the campus and for our adjacent communities?
"It will be our intent that the UC Davis envisioned in this plan will grow in stature and quality as an asset to our regional community," Vanderhoef said.
Committee members will be asked to provide a community perspective on the campus's vision and goals; its program and land-use alternatives; evaluation of land-use alternatives; identification of a preferred alternative; and external considerations and impacts that should be taken into account in the development of the plan and associated planning and environmental review documents.
The advisory committee, chaired by John Meyer, vice chancellor for resource management and planning, includes members of the Yolo, Solano and Sacramento county boards of supervisors; elected representatives of Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento, Winters and Dixon; a member of the Davis Joint Unified School District board; representatives of the Solano Economic Development Corp., the Sacramento Area Commerce & Trade Organization, and the Valley Vision/Regional Action Partnership; and the chairs or presidents of the Academic Senate, Academic Federation, Staff Assembly, Associated Students of UC Davis, Graduate Student Association, Cal Aggie Alumni Association and UC Davis Foundation.
The group is expected to meet quarterly until mid-2002. The revised plan and its draft Environmental Impact Report are anticipated to be ready for UC Board of Regents review by spring 2003.
The public is welcome to attend the Oct. 31 and subsequent advisory committee meetings.