Lawsuit challenges plan for new university in California

A lawsuit contends that a Placer County, Calif., plan to lure a major private university to 1,157 acres west of Roseville violates California environmental law. The latest suit was filed by Davis lawyer William D. Kopper on behalf of the Placer Citizens Against Gridlock. An earlier suit was filed by the Sierra Club. Both suits seek to overturn the county Board of Supervisors' Dec. 9 approval of the university plan. Under the plan, the 1,157 acres would be donated to Drexel University of Philadelphia.To read The Sacramento Bee article, click here. FROM DECEMBER 2008: Placer County, Calif., supervisors have given their stamp of approval to a plan – in the works for seven years – for the Sacramento region's first major private university. The supervisors gave Drexel University of Philadelphia the green light to establish a university on 1,150 acres of farmland west of Roseville. The long-range vision is a university with some 6,000 students, 2,000 jobs and a potential economic impact – according to a 2004 study by the Sacramento Regional Research Institute – of more than $105 million a year. Opponents, including the Sierra Club and others, argued that the deal would convert valuable farmland into an urban island. To read The Sacramento Bee article, click here. FROM NOVEMBER 2008: Placer County, Calif., supervisors have endorsed a plan that could lead to the Sacramento area's first major private university on. The board voted to support a series of agreements that would allow a group led by developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos to give 1,157 acres of farmland just west of Roseville to Drexel University of Philadelphia. Drexel has five years to accept the offer and begin a process that could result in a university with 6,000 students, 800 professors and staff members.To read The Sacramento Bee article, click here.EARLIER: The plan has been in the works for years: A prestigious private university with some 6,000 students and a potential economic impact of more than $105 million a year could be built just west of Roseville, Calif. on 1,157 acres. Drexel University of Philadelphia is considering investing as much as $400 million on the university site. And with the school in place, about half of the land would be sold for commercial and residential development. Opponents, however, say it represents leapfrog development and would spur urbanization of other nearby agricultural parcels.To read The Sacramento Bee article, click here.