UC Merced 2020 Project goes before regents this week

UC Merced leaders and others are set to go before the University of California Board of Regents this week to show support for the university’s 2020 Project plan, which would nearly double the campus’s size.

The coalition of local leaders will make presentations to different committees during the three days that the board convenes in San Francisco. Ultimately, the board is being asked for its approval of the plans and funding on Friday.

Under traditional methods, the project is estimated to cost $1.1 billion, but university officials say they hope to save money through a competitive process over the next 18 months.

The plan would add nearly a million square feet of classrooms, student housing, laboratories and other facilities. The university hopes to have 10,000 students enrolled by 2020, including 1,000 graduate students. At the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, the university had 6,685 students.

“The 2020 Project is critical to UC Merced’s mission to expand educational opportunity and economic development in the San Joaquin Valley and to increase access to the UC system for students from all across California,” Daniel Feitelberg, vice chancellor for planning and budget, said in a statement. “The UC Board of Regents has expressed strong support for that mission and for UC Merced’s growth plans in general.”

The project has the potential to pour dollars into construction jobs for local workers. The development team picked by the university must make reasonable efforts to draw laborers from the San Joaquin Valley, according to the plans.

The city of Merced and the university came to an agreement last month related to transportation, water and sewer infrastructure. Officials said the agreement strengthened the relationship between the entities.

Merced Mayor Stan Thurston said he will attend a meeting Thursday to show his support for the 2020 Project plans. He said he’s been allowed 30 seconds to address the board.

“The city loves having the university here,” he said. “We support them, and will continue to. We hope the regents will vote in favor of the funding.”

One of the committee meetings is scheduled to include a report from KPMG, an outside team that is analyzing the cost of plans, according to the board’s agenda.

University officials said the tentative list of other supporters going to San Francisco include Bob Carpenter, chairman of the UC Merced Citizens Committee; Domonique Jones, president of the Associated Students of UC Merced; Keith Ellis, president of the UC Merced Alumni Association; Mike Murphy, Merced councilman; Danielle Beemeduz, a doctoral student at UC Merced; Lee Kolligian, chair of the Board of Trustees for the UC Merced Foundation; Hub Walsh, Merced County supervisor; and Billy Powell, a Valley electrical workers union representative.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 3:59 PM with the headline "UC Merced 2020 Project goes before regents this week."