The University of California Board of Regents approved $12.9 million in funding for the San Benito Housing project, on top of the $19.15 million they approved in May. They also approved plans to adopt findings from the California Environmental Quality Act into the Housing plan, approved the project scope and amended the 2010 Long Range Development Plan.
The housing project will help fulfill the 2010 Long Range Development Plan by adding approximately 2,225 beds. Courtesy of UC Santa Barbara
San Benito Housing is a residence hall project which aims to add approximately 2,225 apartment-style beds for undergraduate students. Construction for San Benito is set to begin in 2025 on the site of the former Facilities Management yard in the northwest corner of campus, with a planned opening in fall 2027.
The housing project will aid in fulfilling UC Santa Barbara’s obligation to add more student beds in line with student enrollment, as delineated by the 2010 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). The LRDP is a contract between UCSB, Santa Barbara County and the City of Goleta calling for UCSB to cap enrollment at 25,000 until 2025 and add 5,000 beds for the additional students the UC mandated UCSB enroll. San Benito Housing represents Phase One of the plan, with the newly approved East Campus Housing planned for Phase Two.
UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang presented updates on the San Benito Housing complex alongside Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Chuck Haines at the UC Board of Regents Finance and Capital Strategies Committee meeting on Nov. 13.
When first presented in May, the Regents approved $19.15 million in preliminary plans funding. Yang requested that the Regents approve an additional $12.9 million of funding for a total of $32 million of campus funds from long-term external debt financing and housing reserves.
According to the update, the additional preliminary funds will propel the project into motion and reduce future costs due to in-depth preliminary planning work.
“The additional preliminary plans funding would support additional design work to achieve project cost savings, allow the project to move forward, and minimize future schedule and cost impacts to the project,” the plan read.
In addition to funding, the Regents approved the scope of the project — consisting of seven buildings ranging from two to eight stories, totaling 718,900 gross square feet to accommodate 2,238 beds for undergraduate students and resident professional staff. Community amenities such as a retail food market, restored environmentally sensitive habitat area and improved bicycle and pedestrian connections to campus will also be a part of the project.
The Regents will also allow UCSB to adopt findings on the environmental consequences of San Benito — as mandated by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) — into the housing complex plan once they are known. Conditions from the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program will also be adopted once finalized.
Updates to the LRDP included approval of Amendment No. 7 — which changes parking space requirements and raises building height limits to 85 feet — and granting Yang permission to revise the plan, if necessary, based on feedback from the California Coastal Commission. Any edits must “preserve the fundamental planning principles” of the plan and keep the scope within 30,000 gross square feet of allocated building space and four acres of land.
The final San Benito Housing budget will be presented to the Regents for approval at their January 2025 meeting with construction set to begin soon after.
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Nov. 21, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
