Dear Colleagues:
I am very pleased to report that the UC Board of Regents’ Committee on Grounds and Buildings approved our proposed amendment to the UC Merced 2009 Long-Range Development Plan at its meeting in Sacramento today.
As noted in previous messages to the campus community, this amendment is a vital step in the next phase of our physical development, known as the “2020 Project.” It gives us the flexibility we need to plan for faster, more cost-effective construction of the campus through the year 2020, when enrollment is expected to reach 10,000 students.
While levels of state funding for campus development remain uncertain and additional board approvals of alternative financing approaches, project-delivery methods and participating contractors will be needed as our plans take shape, we are strongly encouraged by the board’s continued support for our development goals and hopeful that we can move rapidly through the revision, approval and financing processes in the months ahead.
The amendment reduces the size of the footprint for Phase II development from an originally planned 355 acres to 219 acres, including the original 104-acre “golf course” plot on which our current facilities sit. This change will make more efficient use of available land while avoiding time-consuming and expensive infrastructure-development requirements anticipated in our original plans.
We plan to construct the next phase of our campus as an integrated, master-planned development. Buildings will be designed as mixed-use facilities, rather than for a single purpose, and constructed in clusters, rather than individually, to save time and project costs.
This approach is based on the recommendations of the Urban Land Institute, which issued its final report in December, and was strongly endorsed by the UC Office of the President. Formal approval of the amendment by the full UC Board of Regents is anticipated tomorrow.
With student applications hitting new records each year and existing space at a premium, we need to add physical capacity as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. This change will ensure the phased delivery of the academic, research and student-support space needed to accommodate our growth to 10,000 students. As previously mentioned, we will also be looking to move most of our administrative operations to off-campus locations to complement this process.
Phase II construction will take place on the original 104-acre site and adjacent land immediately east of the existing campus. Total square footage, beds of housing and parking spaces will be the same as originally planned, though configuration and placement will change in many cases to ensure best possible use of available land.
Details of the 2020 Project will be announced as plans are developed and approved.
I’d like to thank all of you for your patience and support as we work through this process and acknowledge Vice Chancellor Dan Feitelberg and his team as well as Campus Counsel Elisabeth Gunther for the many months of hard work and creativity it took to prepare this important amendment for regental consideration. I look forward to the board’s continued guidance and support as we move rapidly ahead with this critical project.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Leland
Chancellor
