On Feb. 5. San José State had a public forum where faculty and students discussed the campus master plan including the effects of construction regarding noise and air quality for the expansion project.
SJSU has been looking to expand its main campus downtown and South Campuses of the University to accommodate the increase in demand for housing, academic facilities, recreation, and athletic facilities as well as student support facilities, according to a Jan. 17, Calif. state government attachment.
At the beginning of the meeting, the phases of the master plan process were presented, which was initiated in 2020, and was shown by the slides in the presentation.
In the public forum, during the presentation Phase 1 was completed in the summer of 2021 where they had interviewed stakeholders and research, as well as a preliminary background report
Phase 2 was completed in Spring 2022, when the draft vision and direction for campus came in, then followed by Phase 3 which was completed by Jan. 2025according to the same Feb. 5, presentation.
Phase 3 includes the development of the master plan and preparation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report, according to the same Feb 5, public forum presentation.
The core goal for the expansion is to work on the main and south campuses, and through 2040, SJSU is looking at properties to expand in Santa Clara County, according to the SJSU website.
The plan has been discussed for the past five years in collaboration with the campus and community members, according to the same website.
Ariana Montemayor, a first-year undeclared student at SJSU, said she was not aware of the expansion.
“I had no clue there was a master plan regarding the expansion of SJSU,” Montemayor said. “I think it is a really cool thing that they are expanding SJSU. That means more opportunities are going to occur for the students.”
The main plans from the Environmental Impact Report report are to increase school facilities, housing for students and staff, and facilities in the South Campus according to a Jan. 23 SF Yimby article.
Hawa Aman, a first-year biological sciences and systems physiology student, said that she didn’t think the physical expansion was necessary.
“In terms of the campus itself I don’t think there is a necessary physical expansion that is needed but due to the great number of admissions of students each year there could be an expansion of classes to prevent too many waitlists,” Aman said.
SJSU is expecting to increase its admissions from 36,000 to 44,000 throughout the renovation, according to a Feb. 3 San José Spotlight article.
The goal is to expand the campus capacity from 7.86 million square feet to 10.55 million, according to the same SF Yimby article.
The Environmental Impact Report included that there will be a process that involves the demolition of 1.06 million square feet of already existing facilities and the construction of 4.75 million square feet of new space.
“There definitely needs to be an expansion of parking spaces because of all the commuters and people who live on campus, there are not enough spots for everyone,” Montemayor said. In the Feb 5, public forum there had been no discussion about the expansion of parking lots.
The school plans to maintain the existing parking, according to the same SF Yimby article.
“As a commuter to the school, I did hope there would be more parking spaces because I am constantly depending on it,” Aman said. “I think it is really important for there to be more spaces because SJSU is primarily a commuter school and a ton of students might not be able to make the time to spare to look for parking.”
The master plan is expected to add 2,100 beds for student housing, which brings the total beds up to about 7,270 total and the percentage of students living on campus is expected to grow from 13% to 19%, according to the same Feb. 3 San José Spotlight article.
“I am not sure about what the plan consists (of), but I am curious to see what is going to happen,” Aman said.
