Biomedical Building

Correcting misinformation about potential UCSC growth

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: UCSC's Long-Range Development Plan mandates that the campus add 4,500 new students.

University position: The LRDP provides a general blueprint for that level of growth and the LRDP EIR analyzes the impacts associated with that level of growth. On UC campuses, LRDPs do not mandate growth; they plan for campus expansion should it be needed to serve future California students and fulfill the state's educational mission. UCSC's first LRDP, for example, was created in 1963; it planned for an eventual enrollment of 27,500 students. Forty-five years later, UCSC's on-campus enrollment is approximately 15,000 students.

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: UCSC's 2005 LRDP envisions that UCSC will "clearcut" 120 acres north of the existing campus core.

University position: Approximately 50 of the 120 acres that could be converted to non-timberland use are located in the existing campus core. When the biomedical building is constructed, in fact, it will be constructed on approximately 1.5 of those 50 acres. Other examples of development in the campus core that converted timberland include the ongoing McHenry Library expansion and the ongoing addition to the Cowell Student Health Center. The remaining area designated for new development if UCSC growth occurs—approximately 70 acres—is located north of the existing campus core.

In addition, UCSC has no history of clearcutting areas for development. UCSC development involves very selective tree removal (the adjacent Science and Engineering Library and Core West Parking Structure, for example, received architectural awards in part because of the way in which they were integrated into the existing tree-filled landscape).

UCSC development also is characterized by very sensitive siting. In fact the Biomedical building was sited on two parking lots, within the campus's existing developed footprint, adjacent to other science buildings.

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: The 2005 LRDP promotes more growth than had been envisioned for the campus in prior LRDPs.

University position: The 2005 LRDP designates approximately 75 fewer acres on the campus for existing and potential future development than did the previous LRDP (1988). The 2005 LRDP also designates approximately 250 more acres as open space than the previous plan did.

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: UCSC's LRDP was developed without student input.

University position: The process for producing the 2005 LRDP began in 2003, before many of today's students enrolled at UCSC. To suggest that students were not involved in the plan's creation is inaccurate. Students served on campus LRDP committees and produced a "student involvement" paper that presented their perspectives. Students, as members of the public, also commented on the Draft EIR on the project during the public comment period, and the Final EIR includes responses to each comment.

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: The new plan will lead to increased rents and traffic and strain the city's water supply.

University position: UCSC's settlement with the city, county, and citizens includes very specific measures that significantly increase university housing for students, establishes a threshold of car trips to the campus, and caps campus water use in case of water shortage. (please see: http://lrdp.ucsc.edu/settlement-summary.shtml). In fact, off-campus student housing demand will be reduced by additional housing being built under the settlement agreement.

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: UCSC's biomedical building is proposed for a site that threatens endangered wildlife.

University position: Biological surveys have been conducted on the biomed site, and none of the species that are considered endangered, threatened, or warranting special concern by the federal or state government has been found on the biomedical site. The project, nonetheless, includes measures to ensure that construction would not result in impacts to special status species. If UCSC were to need to build student housing or academic buildings, or any other additional facilities on undeveloped campus acreage designated for those uses under the LRDP, additional environmental analysis would be required as part of that development. In fact, the LRDP EIR requires the campus to implement measures for each project to ensure that any special-status species that might be present on a site are identified and that impacts to these species are minimized.

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: UCSC's biomedical building will not benefit students.

University position: Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology is one of the programs that would most benefit from the Biomedical Research Facility. The MCD Biology undergraduate program currently serves approximately 2,000 students; the Ph.D. program serves approximately 50 graduate students. The biomedical building will help the campus recruit faculty, thus improving faculty-student ratios.

It's also inaccurate to suggest that research spaces do not directly serve students. Students at UCSC, including undergraduate students, need facilities in which to conduct research. And Sinsheimer Laboratories, also a research facility, is abuzz with student, faculty, and staff interactions--outside spaces dedicated to research. In a first floor conference room in Sinsheimer, instructors meet regularly with undergraduate students, discussing current science literature and the impact of the research. Across the atrium, undergraduate students from the Minority Access To Research Careers/Minority Biomedical Research Support (MARC/MBRS) Program use the seminar room to present their research to their fellow students in the program. The graduate students and faculty gather weekly in the same seminar room for interactions and meetings.

Misstatement on behalf of treesit: UCSC's biomedical building is funded by pharmaceutical companies and underscores the campus's disproportionate interest in science buildings.

The biomedical building, like all other academic buildings on this campus, is paid for by state funds (taxpayer dollars). State bond funds also have provided planning and construction money for the three most recent capital projects:

• Humanities and Social Sciences Facility, which opened in fall 2006, providing instructional and office space.
• Digital Arts Facility, now under construction, which will provide studio, instructional, and research space.
• McHenry Library Addition, also under construction, to provide space for a growing collection of print and electronic materials in the humanities, social sciences, the arts, and special collections—and an infrastructure to give students and faculty access to electronic resources and services.