Pierce College to Consider Leasing Options for Farm

Community college trustees on Wednesday took the first step toward leasing out the Pierce College farm by asking for development proposals for the 240 acres.

But the trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District made it clear that they were interested in all offers, not just the golf course, club house and new classroom building which already have been suggested for the Woodland Hills campus.

The vote was 5 to 1, with one abstention from the Valley’s only trustee, Georgia Mercer. Trustee Althea Baker cast the no vote.

Pierce President E. Bing Inocencio said the college’s survival depends on making money from the land, a holdover from the days when the land was a working farm for the agricultural program.

“We have to think of something imaginative and at the same time consistent with the academics of the college,” Inocencio said.

The golf course plan, backed by the Pierce governing council and the student body, would bring in $800,000 a year to the college and increase by 10% every five years. The lease would be for 20 years.

Bill Allen, president of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, also spoke in favor of the plan, saying Pierce needed to use its resources to the maximum for job training for Valley workers.

Farm preservationists, who object to the golf course proposal, turned out in force to condemn the plan.

Margo Murman, president of the “Save the Farm Coalition,” said after the meeting that her group was going to secure funding to offer a counterproposal to keep the acreage for agricultural and environmental programs.

“It would restore the farm to full productivity,” Murman said. “All of the program can be done without leasing the land.”