View of UCR from above with the Bell Tower in the center and blue skies

Relationship to the LRDP

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 tween 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 25,000 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 a 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 is can prevent us from accepting resources, like capital funding, for that growth). 

Learn More About the LRDP

To learn more about the LRDP, visit lrdp.ucr.edu