Armstrong announced during the session that officials no longer plan to develop on the 15-acre lemon grove, an area that was previously set to be built on. However, no further decisions regarding the development will be made until November.
On Friday, Oct. 16, a student listening session was held with Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong regarding the proposed development on at least 18 acres of farmland located on West Campus along Highland Drive.
The proposal would replace the acreage with mixed-use development, potentially including staff and student housing, an intergenerational care center, a hotel and conference center and a grocery store, according to a slideshow presented during the session.
READ MORE: Cal Poly proposes hotel, senior living on campus lemon grove
Armstrong remarked on the significance of the potential development.
“We have a lot of things that sit on Class I soil, and we need to be really careful and answer questions very carefully of any land that we use. Financial sustainability is a consideration here. This development will generate significant revenue down the road,” Armstrong said.
Lauren Garner, a plant sciences professor and Academic Senate Caucus Chair for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences or CAFES, also said the area consists of Class I prime agricultural soil, which is considered the best for farming purposes.Â
“The land south of Highland is prime farmland, and that is a finite, non-renewable resource. I know that our current university president made a commitment to not build on that prime farmland after having considered building on it as part early in the master planning process,” Garner said.
The commitment Garner referenced was published in a 2015 press release from Cal Poly, announcing that, at the time, Cal Poly would no longer consider developing on the West Campus.
Eighteen classes across different majors in CAFES use the land as classrooms and laboratories, including Agricultural Science, Environmental Management and Protection, Environmental Earth and Soil Science, and Forest and Fire Science, according to previous coverage by Mustang News.
Cal Poly students within CAFES and other colleges filled the entirety of room 114 in Building 180 for the session. They held posters that read slogans such as “When Life Gives You Lemons, Jeff Tears Them Down” and “Save Learn by Doing.”
During the session, Armstrong addressed students’ concerns about potential net loss of agricultural lands available for classes if the proposal is approved.
“We are going to make sure that there’s not a net loss of ag land. And the university is not gonna disrupt, we’re gonna make it better. That’s our goal. The cost for replacement, remediation, those will be borne by the university, not the college’s budget,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong pointed out Cal Poly’s recent receival of Brughelli Ranch as an addition to quality soil.
“This is a fantastic gift of Class I ag-land out by the airport, which, by the way, our aerospace students go out there all the time. It is going to be amazing,” Armstrong said.Â
The Student Committee of the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club, a non-profit organization that focuses on environmental activism and land preservation, was in attendance and gave students who wanted to speak one-page speech templates.
Callum Graham, vice president of the student committee and environmental management and protection senior, said their committee has reached out to other clubs on campus to notify them of Armstrong’s plan to develop on West Campus.
The committee will also attempt to draft a joint resolution between dozens of clubs on campus in opposition to the proposed development that will be sent to Armstrong’s office, according to Graham.