Update #1

December 11th, 2005

Two new academic buildings were made possible by Westmont’s last capital campaign ― the Adams Center for the Visual Arts and Winter Hall for Science and Mathematics.  These facilities are greatly needed and will make a significant contribution to the mission of the college.

Updating Westmont’s approved Campus Master Plan has been a slow and deliberate process because we are located not only in Santa Barbara County, but also in Montecito.

Other recent Montecito projects have faced lengthy reviews, delays and approvals.  As an example, a plan to rehabilitate the Coral Casino beach club that added little new space became a five-year effort with more than 100 meetings.

Historically, the review of development projects happens slowly in Santa Barbara County.  Our successful effort to build homes for our faculty took more than five years.  Yet even with that knowledge, progress has been slow. Our application to update our approved Campus Master Plan was “deemed complete” (meaning ready to be reviewed and voted upon) more than five years ago.  Since then, we have seen an entire class of students come in as freshmen and graduate.

The positive side of the process is that through further review and responding to community issues, we have continued to refine our plan.  It keeps getting stronger and better.  From an environmental standpoint, the process has improved our plan.  Traffic flow and fire safety are improved, and the planned campus layout is better because we have repositioned several buildings, including the chapel/auditorium, which will now be set apart (as it should be) in a pine grove in the middle of campus.

The negative side of the elongated process has been time and money.  We are excited to put a shovel in the ground and begin building the much needed facilities funded by the campaign.  Instead the college continues to incur significant direct costs through the environmental review process, plus much more in projected construction cost increases.

On October 24th County planning staff released a revised draft Environmental Impact Report.  Copies of the four-volume document are available at various libraries in the area, including Westmont’s.  This begins a 60-day comment period that will include a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on December 5th in the Planning Commission Hearing Room at 123 East Anapamu Street.  It is important that supporters of the college attend this meeting.

In addition, we ask that letters of support be sent to:

• Robert Meghreblian, Chair
  Montecito Planning Commission
  123 East Anapamu Street
  Santa Barbara CA 93101

Approval of our plan will be a political decision, and therefore it is important that our elected decision-makers are aware of the amount of goodwill for Westmont that exists in the community.

Following the 60-day comment period, a final EIR will be prepared and the Santa Barbara County planning staff will prepare a final staff report for hearings before the Montecito planning commission early next year.