Ellwood Plan Comments Sought

UCSB officials and consultants will discuss the newly released Draft Environmental Impact Report on faculty and family student housing projects for the North Campus on May 4 at 7 p.m. in Embarcadero Hall in Isla Vista. The Ellwood-Devereaux area open space management plan will also be examined in regard to proposed shifts of housing development away from the coast.

While these documents cover only University land—the remainder of the open space proposal is contained in DEIRs prepared by the City of Goleta and Santa Barbara County—this is where the bulk of the housing development will take place. More than 230 faculty housing units north of Ocean Meadows Golf Course and at least 150 family student housing units along Storke Road (east of Ocean Meadows) are proposed for development.

In addition to designating two parcels of its land as protected open space, the University will amend the campus's Long Range Development Plan to add 40 acres to Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve.

The goals of the comprehensive tripartite effort are to relocate and reduce potential residential development and to establish a 652-acre contiguous area along the coast that will mix open space and natural reserves with public access and resource protection, according to the management plan's introduction.

The open space plan and DEIR are available for public review. They can be seen at Davidson Library's Government Information Center, and the Goleta and Santa Barbara public libraries. A 45-day public review and comment period on both the DEIR and the proposed LRDP amendment will close on May 24.

Written comments may be submitted to Shari Hammond, senior planner, Office of Campus Planning and Design, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2032.