College Is Urged to Drop Plans to Develop Farmland

By SOLOMON MOORE

Aug. 13, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WOODLAND HILLS — Pierce College should scrap plans to develop its 200-acre farm until campus administrators create a master facility plan, a Los Angeles Community College District official has advised.

The recommendation, by the district’s newly appointed asset manager, was disclosed by Vice Chancellor Bonnie James during a Thursday afternoon faculty meeting at Pierce attended by the Pierce College Council and President Rocky Young.

“The expenses and risks to the district were greater than we could recommend,” said James. Rejecting all of the proposals and starting over was the “least likely to cause the district and the college a problem” and “avoid legal entanglements.”

Camille Goulet, general counsel for the college district, said “the district has been threatened with litigation,” perhaps referring to comments made by Eddie J. Milligan, a developer who hoped to build an 18-hole golf course on the farmland.

Milligan said the district has no “justification for canceling and throwing the process out.” And although he said he’d rather negotiate than litigate, Milligan said he was consulting with his lawyers.

“We’re not going to spend a year of our time and $100,000 of our money and have some district staffer try to extort more money from us,” said Milligan. “I don’t have to say what we’ll do, you know what’s going to happen.”

Young said he empathized with listeners who may feel “frustration . . . at starting over again.” But James assured everyone at the meeting that the idea of developing the farm in some way would be taken up again.

“Let me emphasize,” James said. “We are abandoning the process, not the project.”

In a statement released Thursday, the board of trustees also noted that the option of abandoning current proposals “was one of the clearly expressed options in the request for proposals” for the farm development.

The board of trustees will vote on the recommendation at its Aug. 25 meeting.

Young came to Pierce two months ago, hoping that the farm issue was resolved and that he could avoid the divisive issue that has pitted supporters of the farm against proponents of a proposed golf course on the property.

“It’s not resolved,” Young said. “It’s all coming back and I’m going to be directly in the middle of it now.”

But Young said he was optimistic and is looking forward to “making lemonade out of lemons.”

“I relish the opportunity to do a real complete master plan and involve the community in discussions about the master plan,” he said.

As mandated by state law, Pierce has an academic master plan but it has no master plan for its campus construction and renovation.

Former Pierce President Bing Inocencio first proposed trading in the campus’ green pastures for the greener pastures of the fairway in 1998 and was lambasted by outraged Woodland Hills residents. At the time, the campus was facing a $650,000 deficit and district officials went forward with the plan, putting out a request for proposals.

The top three contenders were all proposals for golf courses. The Pierce College Council, a committee of staff, faculty, students and administrators, recommended Milligan’s proposal for a golf course and equestrian center. The plan was projected to generate $800,000 annually for 20 years.

But that was before the district hired its asset manager who has been studying the golf course proposal in addition to other district projects, like Mission College’s plan to buy land.

That was also before the district climbed out of debt, appointed Young as president and elected a new board of trustees.

Young said he and his staff would be looking at different options for the Pierce College farm including a possible biotechnology complex or a set of new dormitories for international students. But Young said the golf course proposal isn’t completely off the table.

“We’re not starting over because we were for or against the golf course or for or against the farm,” said Young. “We’re doing this because we put the cart before the horse.”

In a statement released Thursday, the board of trustees said it will take up to a year to complete a master plan.