PREVIOUS CAMPUS LAND USE PLANS
The history of the campus began in the 1950s with an extensive search for a new University of California campus site. The Cowell Ranch was chosen in 1961, providing 2,000 acres of meadow and forest northwest of the city of Santa Cruz. A distinguished team of consulting designers and planners immediately began planning for the new campus. The first UCSC Long Range Development Plan was completed in 1963, and construction of the campus commenced in 1964. The Santa Cruz campus opened in the fall of 1965.
THE 1963 LONG RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The first LRDP for the Santa Cruz campus introduced the University of California to the concept of residential colleges with academic programs and a strong emphasis on undergraduate instruction. Planned for an enrollment of 27,500 students by 1990, the campus was intended to enable the UC system to accommodate both the forecasted "baby boom" and accelerated migration into California (see Figure 5).
The campus planned in 1963 would have consisted of 20 residential colleges and ten professional schools, extending the full length and breadth of the campus. These colleges would have been arrayed around a pedestrian-oriented campus core containing centralized academic resources and science facilities. The core would have been located in the general vicinity of the present campus core and would have been served by a system of loop roads supporting an auto-free environment within the core. Of particular importance under this plan was the preservation of the campus' unique natural setting. Sensitive treatment of the landscape was to be enhanced by adaptive reuse of a number of historic Cowell Ranch buildings near the south campus entrance. Within eight years of the drafting of this plan, most of the currently existing campus buildings had been constructed.
THE 1971 LONG RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The first revision of the original LRDP was adopted in 1971 and, like the earlier document, it was designed to accommodate an eventual enrollment of 27,500 students. This plan also called for development to be concentrated in the center of campus in order to increase campus cohesion and pedestrian convenience and to minimize environmental impacts. The core area and colleges were identified as pedestrian precincts, to be served by a loop transit system, with auto intrusions minimized (See Figure 6).
The 1971 Plan also identified three large areas to accommodate activities that, while not directly related to academic activities of the University, would provide facilities or services advantageous to the functioning of the University community. The 1971 Plan designated these areas as Inclusion Areas. The plan also identified Natural Landscape Preserves and Open Meadow Preserves, which were to remain undeveloped. In addition, the plan identified a number of small Reserve Areas, where development could occur if approved by The Regents.
THE 1978 LONG RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
In the late 1970s budget cutbacks and reduced enrollment forecasts resulted in a further revision of the UCSC Long Range Development Plan. The 1978 plan called for the intensification of development in the core in order to enable the campus to function at an enrollment of 7,500 students (see Figure 7).
Like its predecessor, the 1978 plan identified three large Inclusion Areas and added a fourth. Proposed building sites were tightly circumscribed, and much of the remainder of the campus was identified as "Natural Resource Areas." Energy conservation, preservation of the natural environment, and close community relationships were cited as key campus planning objectives.