Debate Over Master Plan for Cal Lutheran Continues

The City Council continued the debate late Tuesday on giving final approval to the California Lutheran University Master Plan, an expansion that would transform the 40-year-old school and, according to university officials, prepare it for the new millennium.

“The university and the town have grown up together,” said University President Luther Luedtke, noting that the school graduated its first class in 1963, the same year that Thousand Oaks incorporated. “CLU will be a beacon and a key partner in this community long after we who are here are gone.”

But residents of Cedar Heights Drive, next to the hill where the school intends to build faculty housing, urged the council to require the school to consider an alternative site.

That hill, said resident Jerry Wilder, is an area rife with wildlife. “Approving this will needlessly alter the environment for generations after all of us are long gone,” he said.

Cedar Heights residents said five alternative sites would accomplish the university’s objectives without crowding homes or destroying the residents’ view.

“I wouldn’t expect CLU to accept these alternatives; they haven’t had time to study them, much as we had no time to study their [CLU’s] proposal,” resident Dan Siefert said. “Both sides need time to study the alternatives.”

Many other area residents, alumni, students and administrators, however, urged the council to approve the plan.

“We are poised now to create a truly splendid asset for this community,” said former Thousand Oaks Mayor Frances Prince, who sits on the university’s Board of Regents.

When complete in 2014, the university is expected to have new classrooms, dormitories, faculty housing, science complexes, dining facilities, administration buildings, performing arts center, an expanded library and a $40-million athletic center. The university’s building space will jump from less than 450,000 to more than 1 million square feet.

CLU said it needs the extra space, especially after this year when the campus welcomed the largest enrollment in school history, with nearly 1,500 undergraduates and about 1,000 credential-level and graduate students.

The swell in enrollment has also taxed the university’s on-campus housing system, which now counts 900 students, officials said. With the master plan improvements, the school could accommodate up to 2,200 students, with as many as 1,500 living on campus.

The school has already commenced expansion while awaiting city approval for its overall plans. The Student Union Pavilion, the campus Music Hall and a $4.2-million humanities center, for instance, have been completed, while a new student dormitory and an athletic center on the north side of Collins Road are slated for construction over the next two years.