Kelly Drumm of UC's Office of General Counsel and UCSC Acting Chancellor George Blumenthal issued the following statements today concerning a Santa Cruz County Superior Court ruling regarding UC Santa Cruz's Long-Range Development Plan EIR:
From Kelly Drumm, University Counsel, Office of General Counsel, University of California Regents:
While we are pleased that the court dismissed challenges against 13 of the 16 issue categories in the Long-Range Development Plan's EIR, we are disappointed that the judge requested additional environmental analysis in the remaining three issue categories. We will comply with the court's request that we meet and confer in an effort to resolve our differences. But because we strongly dispute the CEQA basis for today's ruling, we are seriously considering appealing the judgment.
From George Blumenthal, UC Santa Cruz Acting Chancellor:
Today's ruling was not wholly unexpected by the campus. I note, however, that the judge acknowledged the university's right to grow responsibly to meet the needs of California's students and encouraged the parties to make every effort to resolve this dispute outside of litigation. My personal support for such negotiations is why I and other campus representatives have attempted on multiple occasions to reach agreements with the City and County concerning traffic, housing, and water. We remain committed to working with the community to mitigate our impacts.
