Carlsbad Deals Setback to Plan for University

The City Council has dealt a setback to an innovative 168-acre private university and residential development planned for the bluffs north of Batiquitos Lagoon, requiring that the developer secure written contracts with several colleges before construction can begin.

But officials with Sammis Properties, developer of the $250-million Batiquitos Lagoon Educational Park, said Wednesday that most of the agreements should be hammered out within two weeks.

The council late Tuesday voted 4 to 1, with Mayor Mary Casler dissenting, to require the developer to provide the signed contracts or lease agreements as a way of demonstrating that the university will become a reality.

Several council members expressed concern that the San Diego-based builder was attempting to skirt the original goal of establishing a reputable educational facility anchored by a law school and featuring graduate schools in several other disciplines.

“We were looking at having some university with a large student population and I don’t see that commitment here,” said Councilman Richard Chick, previously one of the staunchest council supporters of the educational park.

As initially envisioned by Sammis officials, the project was to focus on a small, private graduate university with at least five disciplines: law, public affairs, communication and information science, land use and real estate, and Pacific Rim studies.

In addition, plans call for a 423-room hotel, several restaurants, convenience and retail stores, a convention center, office buildings and 600 houses and condominiums around the rim of the site.

With an anticipated population of 1,000 students, the university was to be closely aligned with the conservative political philosophy of Don Sammis, company chairman and a Rancho Santa Fe resident.

When brought before the council last year, the plan was received with enthusiasm by both residents and city officials, who heralded the project as perhaps the most innovative development in the city’s history. Even environmentalists normally leery of development near the ecologically sensitive lagoon warmly endorsed the proposal, which was unanimously approved by the council last October.

Since then, Sammis Properties has received all the necessary Coastal Commission approvals and recently began grading the property, a mesa west of Interstate 5. Earlier this month, Sammis officials applied to the city seeking building permits for 129 residential units planned in the first phase.

That application brought out the first significant wisp of opposition.

City staffers groused that Sammis officials had failed to obtain commitments from educational institutions interested in locating on the proposed campus. While the company has produced letters of intent from five schools and maintains that the university is taking shape, city planners have expressed several concerns.

First, no law school has been signed on as a cornerstone for the educational park. Sammis officials were conducting negotiations aimed at persuading California Western School of Law to move to Carlsbad from its downtown San Diego campus, but those talks broke off several weeks ago with little hope that a settlement can be reached.

Sammis officials say they are still seeking a law school for the park but have requested that the city allow other types of schools to act as the focal point of the campus.

City planners have also expressed qualms about the letters of intent submitted by the two major schools--Chapman College and Claremont McKenna College--now involved in negotiations with Sammis.

“These letters do not guarantee any standard classroom curriculum and seem to be more oriented toward executive programs and conferences,” a planning staff report to the council states. “In addition, none of the current letters of intent are binding, but staff does realize it takes time to put together a major educational facility.”

Moreover, city officials say Sammis has failed to live up to a promise that an educational program would be in place before any housing construction began.

Sammis officials, however, argued Tuesday that they have solid commitments from the schools. As proof, officials from three of the schools negotiating with Sammis Properties were presented to the council to demonstrate that their institutions fully intend to come to Carlsbad.

Glenn Dumke, former chancellor of California State University, said the think tank he heads--the Foundation for the 21st Century--and four other colleges are prepared to sign contracts demonstrating their commitment to the Sammis project.

G.T. Smith, president of Chapman College in Orange County, agreed, saying his school would like to begin classes at Batiquitos by next fall.

After hearing from the educators, Casler expressed satisfaction that Sammis officials were far enough along with plans for the campus to justify construction of the housing units.

“These letters of intent,” Casler said, “are perfectly proper at this time and I’m willing to accept them” as evidence that Sammis is working to attract colleges to the proposed campus.

But other council members disagreed, suggesting that the city needed further proof of the developer’s intentions before allowing construction of the housing units.

“I think there should be a sufficient number of contractual agreements to show that this will become a university and not just a residential project with some office space,” Councilman Mark Pettine said, noting that the council embraced the project primarily because of its educational theme.

On Wednesday, Sammis officials were upbeat about the chances of securing written commitments from several of the schools.

Jon Briggs, a Sammis vice president, said that contracts should be signed with Chapman College and the Foundation for the 21st Century by the end of the week, and with the Chula Vista-based New School of Architecture by next week.

The other two colleges planned for the educational park--Claremont McKenna’s Institute for Public Policy and the Batiquitos Music Conservatory--may “take a little longer,” Briggs said.

“Our perception is that Chapman College is really the key to this,” Briggs said, adding that Sammis officials see that school as “the cornerstone institution” for the campus.

Sammis officials have not hidden the fact that they are eager to obtain permits and proceed with construction because of the looming threat posed by a slow-growth measure on Tuesday’s ballot. The initiative, Proposition G, would place a cap on the number of housing units that could be built in Carlsbad each year.

The developer had hoped to move forward with his project to avoid the limit that would be imposed by Proposition G, which many local observers predict is headed for victory at the polls.

“It certainly wouldn’t help it,” Briggs said of the slow-growth measure. “While the residential portion is probably less than 20% of the entire project, it’s still a very key element. This project really is one where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If we take away one of the elements, it really affects the others.”