The Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) is a tool used by the University of California campuses to plan facilities and services to accommodate changing demand. It is similar to a general plan used by local governments in California communities. The LRDP defines how a campus will accommodate anticipated enrollment, and faculty and staff needed to support it. An important component of the plan is a discussion of how coastal resources will be protected and enhanced.
LRDPs contain four major elements:
- Land Use & Development
The plan provides guidance for future building placement and land use while maintaining adequate flexibility for future decision-making. The plan shows the location, type, and number of proposed research and academic facilities as well as housing units. - Open Space
The plan also identifies areas of potential open space. These could include paved plazas, less formal landscaped areas, undeveloped areas, and natural reserves. - Transportation and Parking
The plan shows how people move through the site and considers forms of travel, including pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycles, cars, service and delivery vehicles, and emergency vehicles. The plan also addresses parking for all vehicle types. - Utilities & Infrastructure
The LRDP discusses how campus systems for irrigation water, waste water, storm drainage, sanitary sewers, chilled water and steam, electrical distribution, natural gas, and communications will accommodate the projected campus population.
UC Santa Barbara anticipates a gradual increase in enrollment at an average annual rate of one percent. This rate would be among the lowest in the UC system.
Yes. The last major update to LRDP was prepared over 20 years ago, in 1990. The 2010 LRDP will extend planning to the year 2025.
In addition to more than 50 meetings and presentations on the LRDP, a public hearing on the draft LRDP and EIR documents was held on June 4, 2008, and the public comment period ended June 23, 2008.
University officials and environmental consultants reviewed comments and questions received during the initial public comment period and elected to rewrite and recirculate several chapters of the Draft EIR, including those on water supply and demand, wastewater capacity, traffic modeling, population and housing and greenhouse gas emissions. Public comment on these chapters extended for seven weeks beginning in February 2009, and closed on March 30, 2009.
Responses to comments were incorporated into the 2010 LRDP and EIR. The documents are available on this Web site. The LRDP and EIR was adopted by the Regents in September 2010, followed by the California Coastal Commission in November 2014.
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The proposed enrollment increase is needed to achieve two important objectives: accommodation of UC Santa Barbara's fair share of the increased enrollment demand in UC and continued rise in the academic excellence of the Santa Barbara campus. We are especially mindful of the need to provide access for students from this region who are interested in enrolling at UC Santa Barbara.
We are expected by the State of California and the UC system to accommodate new generations of students. The number of students seeking admission to the UC system continues to climb. The UCSB LRDP creates a blueprint for accommodating a modest percentage of that demand. We believe the proposed one percent is sensitive to community interests, consistent with regional growth projections and responsive to state demand.
UC Santa Barbara is one of the most popular campuses in the University of California system, with applications doubling in the past decade. However, in keeping with the limits agreed to under the last LRDP, on-campus enrollment has been capped at 20,000 for several years. We are proposing to meet increased demand in a managed way, maintaining a one percent annual enrollment increase of 250 students per year to carry us to the year 2025 and a maximum of 25,000 students. UC Santa Barbara's annual growth mirrors that of the entire Santa Barbara County region (about one percent per year).
Also, to maintain and advance UC Santa Barbara's position in the top tier of research universities, its academic strengths must continue to develop. Given the effort and resources invested in growing existing programs to their current levels, some managed growth is necessary to complete what has already been a substantial investment. The proportion of graduate students in particular must grow. An additional challenge will be to replace the substantial number of faculty and staff that will be retiring during this next period.
LRDPs help guide campus decisions about the long-range physical development of a campus. UC Regents use LRDPs in reviewing capital projects and approving proposals for individual buildings. The LRDP identifies sites for housing development, appropriate locations for academic and support buildings, places to expand recreational facilities, and sensitive lands that need protection and restoration.
Each physical development proposal will be subject to CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) review.
Additionally, all development in the Coastal Zone of California, where most of UC Santa Barbara is located, requires an approved permit from the California Coastal Commission.
The 2010 LRDP was prepared by UC Santa Barbara officials. The preparation process was multi-faceted and included a review of projected enrollment demands, analysis of assets and limitations of the campus, traffic studies, resource and service demands, capital costs and many other factors. The LRDP integrates findings and ideas from this work and describes a plan for managing growth.
UC Santa Barbara worked with planning professionals and campus leadership in the development of the LRDP. Elements of the plan were presented to a wide range of interested people and groups, including the campus community, environmental organizations, business groups, neighborhood associations and residents, and elected officials and staff members of neighboring cities and counties. The LRDP and its accompanying environmental impact report (EIR) were released in March 2008, followed by a public hearing on June 4, 2008 and close of public comment period on June 23, 2008.
Several chapters of the Draft EIR were rewritten and recirculated for comment in early 2009. The public comment period closed on March 30, 2009, and comments and questions were addressed in the 2010 Final EIR. The objective of the process was to develop an LRDP that reflected extensive community awareness and was responsive to the needs of both the local community and the people of California.
The Chancellor and UC Board of Regents approved the LRDP in September 2010. The California Coastal Commission certified a modified version in November 2014.
A plan to provide for the housing needs of students, faculty, and staff is a critically important component of the LRDP and environmental review process. UC Santa Barbara believes that the community would like to see an increase in the percentage of students and faculty housed on campus, and proposes development that would increase on-campus student housing from approximately 33 percent today to 50 percent in future years with the updated LRDP.
Sites have been identified within the bounds of the 1,055-acre UCSB campus that can accommodate the housing needs of the entire increase in students (5,000) and increase in faculty and staff (~1,000). Some housing sites may be strictly for students or faculty, but many will accommodate a mix of students, faculty, and staff.