By Camas Frank ~
The Cal Poly administration announced late last week that it is, “considering the possibility of a proposed public-private partnership to build a workforce housing complex.”
The proposed project would be built near the northeast intersection of Grand Avenue and Slack Street.
According to their announcement, 420 housing units would be considered for a 10-acre parcel already on the Campus Master Plan that they updated last year. The planning is apparently tentative as an additional 5-acres is in the zone considered.
Cal Poly gathered feedback in meetings with city and county officials days before making an official statement, and released positive statements from SLO City vice mayor Dan Carpenter, SLO City councilmember Dan Rivoire, and SLO County supervisors Adam Hill and Debbie Arnold.
SLO City’s community development director Michael Codron said the concept wasn’t exactly a surprise since the site plan in the Cal Poly Master Plan called for a residential neighborhood, however the City will have to work with the school to identify impacts on shared services and transit.
“We don’t have land use jurisdiction but through CEQA [the California Environmental Quality Act], we have the ability to identify and mitigate negative impacts,” said Codron. “I can’t say anything in terms of ‘What the City would have wanted,’ but there are considerations…any project that supplies housing will have a positive impact on available housing stock inside the city.”
Cal Poly president Jeffery Armstrong’s main point in the announcement was that the structuring of the development would have a net benefit for the surrounding community as well, “With a private developer prepared to finance the construction and maintain the complex, the burden of cost would be shifted away from taxpayers. In addition, the housing complex guarantees additional local tax revenues, as well as significant revenues for the university to use in support of the academic mission and student success.”
In addition to the oft-discussed student housing issue, workforce housing, supplied either through subsidy or directly by an employer near their place of business has a myriad of hidden benefits, Codron added.
“Vehicle traffic is greatly reduced, just to name one,” he said. “I don’t know how many other companies really have the ability.”
Cal Poly has an easy to find website for the Master Plan: masterplan.calpoly.edu.
The shaded blocks of land set aside for the residential neighborhoods can be found on the expanded campus core map HERE.
