Conditions on UCSC Growth
Community Response to UCSC Growth
On January 12, 2018, Chancellor George Blumenthal announced that UCSC’s Long Range
Development Plan would allow for an increase to 28,000 students by the year 2040. In response the local political leadership spoke with unanimity. The Santa Cruz City Council put Measure U on the June ballot authorizing City officials to “take policy and legal actions to limit the growth proposed for UCSC”. Voters approved Measure U with 77% voting yes. Measure U states, “There shall be no additional enrollment growth at UCSC beyond the 19,500 students allowed by the current 2005 LRDP.” However, UCSC is not bound by City planning decisions. Anticipating that UC will not agree to zero new growth, Measure U continues, “If there is additional enrollment growth at UCSC, UCSC should house the net new growth of students, faculty and staff on campus.”
UCSC expresses a goal of housing all its additional students and “up to 25%” of new staff. However, the Long Range Development Plan fails to make this goal legally binding. Without a legally enforceable mechanism to tie enrollment growth to achievement of housing goals, the goal is worth no more than the goal of the 1988 LRDP to house 70% of undergraduates, 50% of graduate students and 25% of faculty and staff. Currently UCSC houses 53% of its student enrollment. UCSC employs 4700 faculty and staff. Currently there are 239 units of faculty and staff housing on campus.
Why are Santa Cruz residents so concerned about UCSC growth?
Housing Impact
Santa Cruz is rated among the most expensive places to live in the US. Yet it is considerably less expensive for a UCSC student to rent a room in an apartment or house than it is to share a dorm room on campus. The large number of students in proportion to the size of the housing stock in Santa Cruz is recognized as a major contributor to the housing affordability problem.
Traffic Impact
In a City of Santa Cruz poll in July 2017, 84% of likely voters listed traffic congestion as a serious concern. UCSC is the County’s largest employer, and hence a big contributor to vehicle trips. The graph at right shows the history of trips to campus (blue bars) compared to student enrollment (red bars). Trips peaked in 2005 and dropped until 2013. Since 2013 vehicle trips to campus are growing at a faster rate than student enrollment, perhaps on account of students finding less expensive housing farther from campus.
Sprawl Over Biodiversity
Taking exception with what is taught in its Environmental Studies classes about infill versus sprawl, the UCSC administration seeks to develop new roads and buildings in the 275 acres of forest known as “upper campus”.
Afternoon traffic on King St.
Solutions
Community members are asking UCSC to make good on its offer to house 100% of new students and 25% of new staff. Thus far UCSC has not agreed to make that legally binding. Since UCSC is not subject to City of Santa Cruz authority, the City’s leverage lies in its ability to withold water service for the expansion into the upper campus. The City could also impose a tax on parking at UCSC.
The Campaign for Sustainable Transportation advocates that UCSC commit to zero new vehicle trips to campus. Stanford University demonstrates that this is a do-able goal. In order to comply with a Santa Clara County condition on growth, vehicle trips to campus have not grown since 2001, in spite of an increase in students and staff of over 5000. See below for elements of a Zero New Vehicle Trips policy at Stanford.
