Cal Lutheran Details Expansion Plans Before City Council

Cal Lutheran University officials unveiled a plan to expand their campus Tuesday night, offering the City Council and about two dozen residents details about dormitories, academic buildings and athletic facilities planned for 290 acres of the campus.

The plan calls for additional classrooms, dormitories and a performing arts complex seating 500 to 700 on the main campus south of Olsen Road. Sports-related facilities--including a gymnasium-events center, swimming pool, a football stadium and tennis courts--are proposed for part of a 200-acre portion of campus north of Olsen.

After the one-hour presentation at a planning workshop, council members and the public asked questions about effects on neighborhoods, including traffic, noise and lights. They also expressed concern for protection of the largely undeveloped north campus--which includes the Mount Clef ridgeline, a small creek and wetlands.

The council hailed the private university as a community asset, but encouraged university planners to address their neighbors’ concerns and include them in the planning process.

“I urge you to hold as many community meetings as possible--the more the better,” Councilman Andy Fox told the panel of four university representatives.