Feds to determine future of UCSC's Terrace Point expansion
Santa Cruz Sentinel 3/19/07
The university already has nixed construction of 80 apartments originally proposed for the oceanfront site in response to pressure from the California Coastal Commission and environmental and neighborhood groups opposed to expansion on the undeveloped land.
But exactly how much, if any, development can occur on the 34 acres will depend on what the federal Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency find over the course of an upcoming three-day visit. Their independent report will determine whether the university underestimated how much of the property is wetland, which is protected from development.
"If there are major differences, all bets are off," and UCSC would have to redraw its plans, said Dan Carl, a planner with the Coastal Commission.
The nation's disappearing wetlands are highly regulated because they protect oceans, rivers and lakes by providing a filter against pollutants.
The new federal review was requested by members of the state Coastal Commission, who were not convinced the university's wetlands study was accurate. Approval by the 12-member commission, which last April signaled it would not support the project when it was up for review, is the project's final regulatory hurdle.
"This has been an ongoing process of being responsive to the commission concerns," said UCSC planner John Barnes.
No other project in California history has been subject to as much wetland studies as at Terrace Point, Carl said.
But opponents, including the Sierra Club and the Coalition for Limiting University Expansion, are hoping the entire site will be reclassified as protected wetland, which would mean scrapping the project entirely. They lobbied the Coastal Commission by hiring their own experts, who identified "significantly more" wetlands than UCSC.
Carl said scrapping the project is possible but highly unlikely.
UCSC's Long Marine Lab and fisheries labs, run by state and federal agencies, are already at Terrace Point. University officials would like to add about 474,000 square feet of new development that would include additional space for government researchers, a wing for the Center for Marine Health, a lecture hall, overnight dorms for visiting researchers and a sea otter research center.
University officials, led by Gary Griggs, director of the UCSC Institute of Marine Sciences, view the coastal location on the city's western edge as perfect for building a world-class research center.
"Some of the irony in this is that what we're doing on this site is trying to understand how coastal ecosystems work and what's important to protect," Griggs said. "In arguing about whether the soil is damp, we're losing the bigger picture of what the marine lab has contributed"
Defining a wetland can sometimes be more of an art than science, and the final decisions are often based on the nature of the project and who will ultimately benefit, said wetlands biologist Rosie Wilson, a Berkeley consultant.
"That's the part that causes these battles between stakeholders," Wilson said.
The university's definition of what is a wetland at Terrace Point, about 7.5 acres total, is too narrow, some experts and environmentalists say. But more importantly, they say, it would set a precedent by permitting construction on some coastal soil types that have historically been considered wetland.
At least two commissioners raised the same concern at a hearing last year, saying that if UCSC builds on these "problematic" soils, the new, weakened standard would let every developer up and down the coast use the same excuse.
Don Stevens of the Coalition for Limiting University Expansion said he believes the site is too valuable in its current state.
"It's important that wetlands are preserved to ensure clean water and protection for the wildlife near one of California's last remaining coastal lagoons," Don Stevens, a member of CLUE, said in reference to Younger Lagoon Reserve, which sits on the property.
CLUE is involved in several lawsuits against growth on the university's main campus.
Other critics, like Aldo Giancchino, a Westside resident and leader of Sierra Club's local chapter, say the university could build instead on university-owned land across the street at the old Texas Instruments site.
The status of wetlands has long been a hotly disputed issue under the federal Clean Water Act. California laws protecting wetlands are even stricter.
Before they would recommend a plan, commission staffers want to reopen public access to Younger Beach, a small cove below Terrace Point with a popular surf break just offshore. The university and commission are continuing to hash out several other details.
If no major revisions to the plan are required following the federal study, university officials hope to put the Terrace Point plan to a final vote before Coastal Commission in May.