CAL POLY - Faculty and staff probably won't move into Cal Poly housing in fall 2005, as first planned, because the university is still ironing out the project's environmental study.

The university wants to build 85 units at Highland Drive and Highway 1, with the hopes of luring faculty and staff. The final environmental report for the project site was slated to be approved by the California State University trustees at a meeting today.

But Cal Poly officials are still responding to roughly two dozen public comments about the environmental study, released in February.

As well, Chief Planning Officer Linda Dalton said, the university may need to revise the report again to make certain that sewer and traffic impacts are consistent with those of the proposed 2,700-bed student housing complex, which would be located about a mile away near Poly Canyon.

"We don't know how that will affect things like traffic analysis," Dalton said. "But in some ways (the traffic) will be a lot better because students will be on campus rather than off."

Dalton said she is not confident the university will meet its fall 2005 completion target for the employee housing, and she didn't offer a new timeline. The project has been delayed several times after a group of about 200 neighbors sued the school last year saying the environmental report was inadequate.

Superior Court Judge Douglas Hilton in December agreed with the Neighborhoods North of Foothill group, requiring Cal Poly to revise its plan.

Now university officials will submit public comment responses to the CSU trustees, who will then send the report to Hilton for a final review.

The trustees will likely vote on both housing projects at their July meeting.

The trustees were expected to approve contracts today for the student housing complex and essentially finalize the deal. That will also be delayed, Dalton said, but its September groundbreaking and fall 2006 completion date should not be affected.