March 13, 2000
UCSC outlines 'planning principles' for development of marine research and education center on Terrace Point property
By Jim Burns
A UC Santa Cruz planning committee, working with representatives of the city of Santa
Cruz and the California Coastal Commission, has taken the first step toward planning
a marine research and education center on the 55-acre property commonly referred
to as Terrace Point.
The committee has completed work on a document entitled Planning Principles: Marine
Research and Education Center. The publication outlines the planning process
that will be used for the project and identifies some of the broad development issues
that subsequent studies will need to address.
"The committee's work is intended to clarify the university's thinking about
the property and give guidance to the consultant we will be hiring to develop a detailed
master plan for the site," says Charles Eadie, UCSC's director of campus and
community planning.
The Planning Principles document states the university's intention for the
property: to create a "world-class" marine research and education center,
incorporating UCSC's Long Marine Laboratory, located next to the 55 acres; the Seymour
Marine Discovery Center, which opened this past weekend (March 11-12) at the marine
lab; and the Younger Lagoon Natural Reserve.
The document also outlines five broad principles for the site's development:
- Protect, maintain, and where feasible, enhance and restore the overall quality of the coastal zone environment and its natural and artificial resources.
- Assure orderly, balanced utilization and conservation of coastal zone resources, taking into account the social and economic needs of the people of the state.
- Maximize public access to and along the coast and maximize public recreational opportunities in the coastal zone consistent with sound resources conservation principles and constitutionally protected rights of private property owners.
- Assure priority for coastal-dependent and coastal-related development over other development on the coast.
- Encourage state and local initiatives and cooperation in preparing procedures to implement coordinated planning and development for mutually beneficial uses, including educational uses, in the coastal zone.
The UC Regents last May purchased the Terrace Point property, which is located next
to UCSC's Long Marine Laboratory. The oceanfront parcel had been the subject of two
prior attempts by Wells Fargo Bank, the former owner, to create master plans for
future development. The city of Santa Cruz had jurisdiction over each of those planning
efforts, none of which were approved.
In October, the university began a process of developing a Coastal Long Range Development
Plan (CLRDP) for the property--a planning process that falls under the jurisdiction
of the California Coastal Commission. UCSC's Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor John Simpson
appointed the center's planning committee to oversee that process; the committee,
which worked with the consulting firm of SRG Partnership, Inc., to produce the Planning
Principles document, is cochaired by Gary Griggs, director of UCSC's Institute
of Marine Sciences, and Tom Vani, vice chancellor for Business and Administrative
Services.
Griggs believes the planning process begun this past fall will ultimately produce
a blueprint for a "world-class" marine research center on the property.
As part of the process producing the Planning Principles document, the committee
initiated the preliminary assessment of such world-class marine research centers
as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The new process also gives the university an opportunity to approach the development
of the parcel differently than could Wells Fargo, which made for-sale housing a chief
component of its development proposals, Griggs said. "We won't be redoing the
Wells plan. We're starting from scratch."
The Planning Principles document says some housing on the property will be
"critical to the development of a successful marine research and education center....
University housing options serving the marine-related mission of the center include
accommodations for undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctorates, faculty, and
visiting scholars."
Other "key issues" identified by the document that will affect the site's
development include site constraints, the need for open space and buffers, the need
for additional studies concerning roads and parking, and the need to ensure pedestrian
access to the coastline.
UCSC, Coastal Commission, and city of Santa Cruz representatives participated in
three workshops that helped produce the Planning Principles document.
