Soka University Expansion Plan Approved

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved a compromise plan that will allow Soka University to expand its campus in the Santa Monica Mountains, despite concerns from neighbors about the project’s potential impact on the environment, traffic and quality of life.

“We are not happy about it, but [we] believe it is the best solution to a difficult situation,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who brokered the agreement. “This is not an easy decision. It is the right decision.”

However, a Sierra Club representative vowed to continue a six-year fight to block the Japanese university’s plans to build a liberal arts school in an environmentally sensitive area near Calabasas.

The university cannot start expanding its 300-student campus until the California Coastal Commission considers elements of the plan in March 1997.

In an attempt to counter opposition to the university, Yaroslavsky introduced a requirement that Soka reduce the total number of acres it can build on from 150 to about 59.