Following the February release of the draft environmental impact report (EIR) for UCSB’s proposed graduate student housing complex, the public will be invited to comment on the project at a meeting next Thursday.

The UCSB Office of Campus Planning and Design will host a meeting March 11 at Embarcadero Hall from 7 to 8 p.m. to elicit local feedback on the findings of the San Clemente Graduate Student Housing Project EIR. The Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Dept. is working with UCSB on the project to make road improvements to El Colegio Road, and its representatives will also be present at the meeting.

UCSB is proposing to construct 329 three-story housing units, for a total of 976 bed spaces, on the south side of Storke Field along El Colegio Road. The project also plans to provide 844 parking spaces, the majority to be housed in a four-story parking structure along Stadium Road. The remaining surface parking spaces would be accessible from El Colegio Road. UC Regents approved the estimated $116 million plan in May 2002, and it will take up about 11.5 acres of Storke Field.

Santa Barbara County’s share of the project includes the installation of six roundabouts along El Colegio Road at the intersections with Camino del Sur, Los Carneros Road, Camino Pescadero, Embarcadero del Mar, Embarcadero del Norte and Stadium Road.

Previous plans for the project relocated Parking Lot 38 further north, but the revised plan in the EIR keeps the lot in the same place.

Although construction of San Clemente housing units means the loss of recreational space on Storke Field, the draft EIR states that Storke Field will be expanded to the west of its current location, and an additional field area on the north side of Parking Lot 38 would be provided.

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