Dear UCR Faculty and Staff,

UCR is currently in the process of updating its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). The information below highlights the requirements for an LRDP, and we also included in here some information that distinguishes the LRDP from the Strategic Planning process update, which is being initiated in the near future.

Relationship of the Strategic Plan to the LRDP.   As UCR enters into the development of its next strategic plan, it is helpful to understand the differences between the strategic plan and the LRDP, which is currently under discussion.  The LRDP is a long-range land use plan that looks at very broad growth assumptions and considers their environmental impact.  The strategic plan focuses on UCR’s mission, vision, and values, and provides direction regarding our priorities and aspirational goals.  The strategic plan drives the UCR operational and capital budget priorities, while the LRDP provides parameters for how land use can support those priorities.  A strategic plan is important to guide an organization, but not required.  The LRDP is required by the state. 

Basic Requirements of an LRDP:  It is first important to understand the basic requirements of an LRDP – It looks broadly at the campus growth options (not predictions) and environmental entitlements in order to allow us to take advantage of future expansion opportunities that might come our way.  For example, our current LRDP says we are approved for 25,000 students. We could exceed the 25,000 mark BUT if the state then had funding to give us for new buildings, we would not have the entitlements to accept that funding under the current LRDP.  We want to give ourselves the opportunity to grow in the future through this updated LDRP, and be in a position to take advantage of financial opportunities for that growth, but the LRDP is NOT a mandate to grow – we cannot grow if we don’t have the operational and capital resources to support that growth.   The LRDP includes major assumptions for growth – like enrollment targets, housing, space needs, parking, etc. and these assumptions are the requirements that then go into the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) document and an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that quantifies the environmental impact of that growth and is a public document distributed for broad input.   The LRDP goes forward to the Board of Regents WITH this EIR and comments from that EIR (from the public), and if it is approved, it gives us those entitlements to grow within those new parameters (again, we can only grow if we have the resources to support that growth, and if we don’t have an updated LRDP, it can prevent us from accepting resources, like capital funding, for that growth). 

The current LRDP in use by the campus was created in 2005 and last updated in 2010, and bases its land use assumptions on a projected maximum population of 25,000 students. At 24,000 students in Fall 2018, the campus is quickly approaching this important enrollment milestone. It is time to update the LRDP to reflect UC Riverside’s current vision regarding enrollment and the physical development necessary to support continued future growth.

The LRDP Team would like to gather input on what the campus community envisions for UCR’s future across a variety of dimensions that affect land use.  To that end, we’re hoping to gain an insight on campus constituents’ preferences on things like athletics, recreation, parking, housing and more. We invite you to share your thoughts by taking a short survey on the LRDP website.

We looks forward to hearing your thoughts on this significant campus effort.