Plaintiffs plan to appeal a county judge’s ruling allowing
the University of California to continue construction of UC Merced
on what they call environmentally-pristine land.
Judge William Ivey of the Merced County District Court ruled
last week that the university’s construction plans met state
environmental requirements.
The lawsuit ““ which he ruled against ““ alleged the
UC did not adequately assess the impact of construction on the
local ecosystem.
“Their plan doesn’t comply with the California
Environmental Quality Act,” said Lydia Miller, director of
the San Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center, one of the groups suing the
UC.
The university is not surprised that an appeal will be filed and
expects to win all future challenges, said UC Merced Press Aide
Patti Istis.
Because Patience Milrod ““ the attorney representing Miller
and the other plaintiffs ““ has yet to file the appeal, she
said it is uncertain when the appeal will be heard.
However, it is guaranteed that the appeal will be heard at some
point if filed, as the appellate division always hears requests for
an appeal, Milrod added.
The first step in the legal process will not be the appeal
itself; Milrod is seeking an emergency stay on Ivey’s
ruling.
If a stay is granted, it would prevent Ivey’s ruling from
taking effect until the appellate court makes a ruling, stopping
construction on the UC Merced campus during that time.
The university will oppose the emergency stay, but will comply
if a judge rules in favor of the stay, Istis said.
It is “impossible to predict” whether a stay will be
granted because it is hard to discern the state of construction,
Milrod said.
The university is behind on its construction time line for
Merced, which helps to determine whether a stay will be granted,
she added.
However, Istis said the university has stuck to its time line,
and must continue to do so to insure the campus will be ready to
accommodate 2,000 students for its 2004 opening.
UC officials are looking to the Merced campus to help deal with
the expected influx of 50,000 new undergraduates into the UC by
2010.
If built according to schedule, Merced will accommodate 5,000
students by then.
UC Merced advocates say the location is important to promote
educational access for Central Valley students and improve the
economy in one of the state’s poorest areas.
But the university hasn’t shown there is enough water near
the campus to sustain a growing university population, Miller
said.
Construction could also have an effect on rare vernal pools near
the campus, which sustain a wide array of animal and plant life
including some species which cannot survive in any other
environment.
Vernal pools are seasonally-flooded wetlands that do not drain.
California, South Africa and Chile are among the only places on
Earth where they exist.
The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife concluded in August
that construction does not pose a major risk to endangered species
in the area if appropriate precautions are taken, so construction
should continue.
The UC also needs to get approval from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to build, because construction will affect federal
waterways.
The campus’ first 100 acres have already received a
federal permit. Istis said it will be several years before a permit
for building the rest of the campus will be given, but the permit
will not be needed until then.
Regardless of what happens in the Court of Appeals, Miller does
not expect it to be the last step in the legal battle over building
UC Merced.
“This case will go to the state Supreme Court,”
Miller said.