News in Brief

University Files Suit Over City of Santa Cruz Proposal

The university is filing a lawsuit against the city of Santa Cruz for proposing ballot measures that would exclude any future additions to the Santa Cruz campus from the city’s water or sewage services.

The lawsuit, which was filed last week in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court, says the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act by putting two controversial measures on the ballot.

Measures I and J would amend Santa Cruz’s city code to restrict water and sewer services to city limits and also require that the university pay for the negative impacts of additional housing and increased traffic and water usage.

“Not only is the city threatening to withhold contractually obligated water to a UC campus, the city placed the ballot measures on the ballot without a full disclosure to voters of the environmental impacts that could be created by the city’s own measures,” UC attorney Kelly Drumm said in a statement.

The city is also accused in the lawsuit of cutting short a public comment period in July to 12 days instead of 30—a requirement of the California Environmental Quality Act.

Supporters of the measures released a statement saying they want UC to be environmentally responsible for the growth over the next 15 years.

“UCSC makes many positive contributions to California and our local community, but before the campus can grow again it needs to mitigate the negative impacts its growth will cause both on campus and in the community,” supporters said in a statement on the city of Santa Cruz’s Web site.

Sarah Donner

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