Establishing a four-year university on land set aside in Otay Ranch is not a pipe dream. It may be more difficult than Chula Vista city leaders first envisioned, but it's a goal well worth a long-term commitment.

The City Council needs to reaffirm its decision to locate a much-needed university in Chula Vista, a city that's dedicated to raising its profile and the quality of life of its citizens. A four-year university would provide an immense boost to the gathering civic efforts to improve Chula Vista.

Under the current Otay Ranch plan, 1,100 acres are set aside for the university, although only 636 are developable. The rest is open space. While about half of the entire 1,100 acres is owned by the city, only 139 of those acres are developable. The rest is in private ownership, mostly by the Otay Land Co. The Otay Ranch plan adopted by the city in 1993 states that if, by the time 75 percent of building permits in Otay Ranch have been issued, the city has not reached a decision on the university, the set-aside land can be developed for more housing and businesses. That threshold is expected to be reached in about three to four years.

That may not be enough time. The city needs to adopt a longer timeline for the university. There's already plenty of residential and commercial development either under way or planned in Otay Ranch. Siting the university is more important for Chula Vista than building even more homes and shopping centers.

The city is currently undergoing an update of its general land use plan, so now is a good time to improve its commitment to building a university in Chula Vista. The Otay Land Co. has proposed building a mixed-use commercial and residential project on some of the university land, leaving 440 acres of the 636 developable acres for a possible university site. However, the developer's proposal would retain the building permit threshold that could allow almost all of the university land to fall to residential and commercial development later this decade.

City planning staff has come back with two other alternatives that would allow some development on university land, but save the rest in perpetuity. One staff alternative would preserve 550 acres of the 636 developable acres in perpetuity for a university and then allow the developer to build an 86-acre mixed commercial and residential university village. The other is to allow the developer to build both an 86-acre university village and a research and development industrial park, and keep 440 acres in perpetuity as a university site.

We believe it is important to keep as much land as possible for a university site, and to maintain it for that use until a university is built. A university would be extremely beneficial not only for Chula Vista but also for the Otay Ranch development itself. From an economic standpoint, it makes the area much more viable, since the university would serve as a magnet for good-paying jobs, both at the school itself and at spin-off industries.

While Chula Vista originally hoped that a University of California Chula Vista campus would be built, that idea appears to be moribund. Currently, fruitful discussions are under way with San Diego State University, which needs more room to grow and doesn't have any room on Montezuma Mesa. The most likely scenario at this point is for SDSU to expand its campus onto the Chula Vista site. With the completion of state Route 125, SDSU's main campus will be about 15 to 20 minutes away.

Chula Vista wants a university with its name on it. That could happen in the future. CSU San Marcos began as a satellite campus of SDSU; the same could occur for the future CSU Chula Vista.

With the South Bay's burgeoning youth population, and Chula Vista's growing affluence, a four-year university remains a very promising goal. The City Council needs to commit to that goal by preserving the university set-aside at Otay Ranch in its land-use plan. This vision can be realized, and it will be a great benefit for everybody when it is.