Soka Campus

Re “Panel Approves Soka Campus Expansion Plan,” Sept. 25.

Your article contained the misleading report that “only about 15 people spoke against the downsized plan” proposed by Soka University in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Tens of thousands of concerned citizens oppose Soka’s plans. The Sierra Club, Angeles Chapter, represents about 65,000 members. The Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation represents over 20 homeowner associations in the Las Virgenes Valley, where the proposed university will be sited. Additional speakers at the hearing represent hundreds more opponents each. And the Planning Commission received well over a hundred cards and letters opposing the project.

Attendance by opponents of the project at the hearings was affected by their being rebuffed at the first hearing. Opponents were not told until they got there that they could not speak. That hearing and one at 5:30 at night were both only for proponents. Opponents--who also work for a living--got no such break.

As for your misleading report of “downsizing,” the only apparent change in the plan originally proposed by Soka in 1990 of 5,000 students and a 1,743,000-square-foot campus is that it will be built in installments instead of all at one time. Upsizing Soka to over 100 acres of institutional zoning provides ample area for the 5,000-student plan. Impacts of the current plan will be the same as the original.

SUSAN GENELIN

Beverly Hills