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October 02, 2006
CSU Chico - Growth Nobody is Talking About
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| How large of an effect
does the University's (CSU Chico) growth have on the City of Chico? The
university finished a Master Plan taking it out to 2015, and it looks like
expansion is the primary focus. We saw how expansion of Enloe Hospital caused ripples through the community. Planning Commissioner John Luvaas got in hot water over some ill-advised and televised comments. The Mayor, Scott Gruendl, took time out of his schedule to lead anti-"Enloe management" union rallies at a contentious point in the Enloe dialogue. And local neighbors of Enloe demanded, and got, special treatment for their neighborhood gaining the lions share of $14million set aside for neighborhood improvements. Looking back at Enloe I have to wonder what the plans to expand the university will do to Chico. I also wonder why it seems like only Michael Dailey is talking about it. Dailey had quoted some figures from the CSU Chico master plan, so I went looking for it. Here is the plan, and it has a smorgasbord of suggestions and info that Chico blog readers should peruse. |
| Here are some interesting components of the University
Master Plan (to me anyway). The university plans to add 1800 FTE (full-time-enrollments), increasing their capacity by about 14% to 15800 FTE. FTE's are not students, but represent the capacity for bodies in the classroom. For example, two part-time students might equal one FTE. So additional enrollment impact on Chico's population could add 3,000-4,000 new people. This could include full-time students, part time students, family members, etc. The majority of those students would require housing in and around the University, which will cause additional conversion of older neighborhoods into rental space. These are also the homes most affordable to young working families. A few thousand new neighbors will also be competing for jobs, which can be scarce in Chico. They will be driving to those jobs. In addition, some older neighborhoods are identified as expansion areas. Some suggestions in the Master Plan include absorbing Rio Chico neighborhood (between 1st Street and Big Chico Creek west of Warner) and the College Park area (west of Warner, adjacent to Nettleton stadium. Whitney and Taylor Halls may be demolished and replaced with buildings requiring less maintenance. The Master Plan also shows that the most popular mode of transportation to school is the car. About 5200 students drive alone or carpool to school, 4400 ride bikes, and 4100 walk. Roughly 900 use public transportation or carpool (I'm not sure why carpooling shows up twice in this table??). Parking structures are discussed in the plan, although not in context of how limited parking effects the rest of Chico, or how additional traffic effects our roads leading to downtown. Just a back of the napkin calculation would see a need for 500 or so new rental homes, and about a 1000 new parking spaces in the next 10 years. I haven't looked yet, but I suspect Butte College is looking to increase enrollment during this time frame as well. This Master Plan represents the largest infill development facing Chico. It displaces existing housing and creates traffic and parking impacts that will dramatically impact downtown commerce. Our local leaders should be talking about this (Michael Dailey deserves credit for doing so) and our local citizens should take the time to review the CSU Chico Master Plan. Below is a series of images from the plan that display growth of the university since its inception. |
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Posted by Lon at October 2, 2006 07:26 AM
Comments
After "perusing" the table of contents I came to realize that actually reading the whole report would be a career move. Thankyou for the "highlites" though I find them to be more like lowlites. More students and their associated impacts stuffed into residential neighborhoods. More traffic congestion/parking/accidents around the University area. A few more academics to enlighten students (and of course they will "enlighten" us as well). More fast food outlets and correspondingly high paid jobs (LOL). So much more of....of....everything! OH Boy!
Posted by: Ron Acevedo at October 2, 2006 12:12 PM
The plan is a bit much to swallow. I just reviewed the content and didn't read the entire document, but I will read it at some point soon.
I don't think the City government has much say over the plans the university makes. It is a major financial/cultural force in Chico, and in most cases can get away with telling us to get lost.
But why all the angst over growth and the impact of a hospital on older neighborhoods, but not a squeak about CSU Chico's massive increase in population?
My opinion is that the existing leadership is quick to respond to supporters needs, but slow to plan effectively for Chico's future.
That statement might have been applied to conservatives here in Chico in the past. But the pendulum of politics swings. Here we are with the liberals not focusing on the basic needs of Chico.
Posted by: Lon at October 2, 2006 09:14 PM