CLU'S GROWTH GETS KEY OK; PLANNING PANEL ENDORSES MORE SPORTS FIELDS, DORMS.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

A sweeping plan outlining development through 2015 at California Lutheran University - bringing more athletic facilities and dormitories to the small liberal arts campus - has been approved by the Planning Commission and is now headed to the City Council.

With some conditions, such as a public hearing when specific plans for campus housing are drafted, the commission voted 4-0 to endorse the master plan. The lengthy hearing Monday night brought more than two dozen speakers, many in support of the institution that hopes to retain its small-school setting.

``It's a very important moment in the history of CLU,'' Carol Keochekian, senior director of university relations, said Tuesday. ``I think what it showed (Monday) night is that CLU is a very important part of the community. People realize that and came out to make it known.''

While some residents expressed reservations about how the project would affect parking and traffic at the 2,000-student school, other residents were vocal in their opposition to building campus housing near their Cedar Heights Drive homes.

``They're going to put student dorms in our back yard,'' said Jerry Wilder, who claimed that neighbors plan to voice their concerns to the City Council during its Jan. 12 meeting. ``None of the neighbors want to bring a string of (dorms) within 50 feet of their home.''

But the Planning Commission tried to solve the issue by requiring a public hearing before the dorm project proceeds.

College officials added that the plan is to build staff housing for professors near the residents, with the student housing further north of the neighborhood.

``What is planned to be behind their homes is faculty and staff housing,'' Keochekian said. ``I think they envision the dorms being . . . right up to their homes, and that is not the case.''

The college's plan calls for a slate of changes that would allow the campus along Olsen Road to grow in its 290 acres while remaining an intimate academic environment in a neighborhood setting.

The proposal includes a 4,000-seat football stadium, new playing fields for soccer and baseball-softball and a new aquatics center. Along with new dorms, the improvements are expected to boost enrollment from 900 on-campus students to 1,500.

The Planning Commission placed other conditions on CLU's expansion, including: a parking study, due back in 60 days; an increase from one to two bus stops on campus; and plans to work with the city if traffic issues arise.

The panel approved the project with Commissioner Marilyn Carpenter abstaining because she works for the college.

Planning Commission Chairman Ron Polanski said the panel welcomed the school's master plan as a long-overdue document that will foster the school's growth.

``It has been a diamond in the rough,'' Polanski said of the school. ``This will really make it shine.''