OCC’s expansion plans draw criticism from residents and mayor
If Orange Coast College offered four-year degrees, would it be destined to become Cal State Costa Mesa?
And if the campus expanded its services to more than 28,000 students, would traffic in the city become even more of a headache?
Those questions and a number of others were posed Tuesday during a community meeting hosted by Costa Mesa city officials in College Park, an OCC-adjacent neighborhood where residents are expressing frustration about the community college’s Vision 2020 plan.
Mayor Jim Righeimer told 60 attendees at the meeting, held at a Hanover Drive home, that he has grave concerns about what’s been proposed — chiefly a four-story parking structure on the Orange County fairgrounds at Fairview Road and Arlington Drive, across the street from College Park, a retail-restaurant center and a 145-room hotel.
Righeimer also questioned any attempt by OCC to push for enrolling more international students, who pay far more to attend school.
“I think it’s clear that all of us are excited about having people from around the world go to our school,” he said, “[but] I think if you’re starting to look at this as a business model to say, ‘What is our mission?’ ‘What are we trying to do?’
“[Is it] to educate a bunch of kids from Asia, Shanghai and South America? I don’t know that that’s the mission of a community college.”
City staffers also said they have concerns about the traffic projections: an additional 17,000 car trips daily, more than the roughly 13,000 projected to be generated from Newport Beach’s proposed Banning Ranch development.
Mary Hornbuckle, who is president of the Coast Community College District board and represents Costa Mesa, said some of the Vision 2020 plans that residents are commenting on are “already archaic.”
The district is made up of OCC, Coastline Community College in Fountain Valley and Golden West College in Huntington Beach.
“The plans are being reworked,” she said. “There will be changes.”
Hornbuckle, a former Costa Mesa mayor, didn’t specify the changes but said the board heard concerns earlier this summer.
“All I can say is please stay tuned,” she said. “You will have an opportunity to comment on the changes before they go into effect.”
She added that the plans are largely irrespective of Measure M, a nearly $700-million bond approved by voters in 2012 to help finance rehabilitation and construction of college district facilities.
Hornbuckle also noted that OCC’s Vision 2020 plan was the school’s response to state requests for community colleges to be more “entrepreneurial” and find additional sources of income.
“All community colleges throughout the state are looking at ways to bring in revenue,” she said. “We look at joint ventures, we look at things we can do … we are being forced to do that by the state because the money just hasn’t been there.”
Many attendees expressed concern about the noise and traffic that would result from having a large parking structure on the fairgrounds, as well as speeding cars along Merrimac Way, behind College Park.
Righeimer said he didn’t think the campus’ suggested developments — like the on-site hotel and retail center — were necessarily demonstrative of OCC’s educational mission.
Some of the plans sound like the Coast Community College District campuses are “getting in the real estate business,” he said.
“There’s no nexus for a community college to have a hotel,” Righeimer added. “It’s a business deal.”
City officials noted that OCC, while inside city limits, is state property, giving the City Council little direct influence or oversight.
Hornbuckle requested that the Vision 2020 plan not become a “campaign platform” this November.
“We know that many of you have fond memories of OCC,” Hornbuckle said. “We don’t want this to be a divisive subject.”
