Administration Explores Housing Plan, Traffic Improvements for Campus

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Kellogg Drive looking north toward campus
The view on Kellogg Drive looking north toward campus. The alignment of Kellogg Drive could shift eastward under plans that Cal Poly Pomona administrators are considering.

Modern student housing and dining facilities, expanded amenities at the Arabian Horse Center, and safer roadways are among the improvements that could be coming to the southeast corner of campus as Cal Poly Pomona explores how it will grow in the near future.

The most dramatic change under consideration would involve shifting Kellogg Drive to the east of where it currently runs, and creating a reconfigured intersection where it meets Red Gum Lane.

Moving Kellogg Drive to the east would create additional room for student housing and a dining facility near the core of campus. Adding more on-campus housing is an important step in achieving three of the university’s long-term goals:  enhancing campus life for students, shrinking its carbon footprint by reducing the number of students who commute to campus, and increasing safety for pedestrians and cyclists by directing automobile traffic away from the center of campus.

An earlier student housing plan targeted space in parking lot C, but that concept was abandoned because of the need to reserve the location for future academic buildings.

“We’re still in the very early stages of exploring these concepts, but it’s a very exciting time to be part of this university,” says Steven N. Garcia, vice president for the Division of Administrative Affairs and chief financial officer. “We’re preparing Cal Poly Pomona to meet the needs of its many stakeholders well into the future.”

The quest for new housing will require other changes as well — specifically, the shifting of horse pastures to the east onto a few unused plots near the citrus groves that line South Campus Drive. The impact on the pastures is expected to be minimal.

“The university is taking into consideration balancing its rich historical legacy with its vision,” says Mary Holz-Clause, dean of the College of Agriculture. “The university has been working hard to insure that Cal Poly Pomona can meet the needs of its growing student body, while retaining the renowned Arabian horse program.”

But that’s not the only changes being discussed for the Arabian horse program. Recently, Cal Poly Pomona received preliminary approval for a covered arena at the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center. The arena project, which will cost around $500,000, is being made possible through the generosity of university friends and donors, who have stepped up to provide funding. When completed, it would give students and staff greater flexibility in instruction and presentation of the center’s classic Sunday horse shows, a tradition that dates to 1926.

“The Arabian Horse Center is one of the best parts of this campus,” Garcia says. “It draws visitors here like few other facilities could. I’m really pleased to be part of the team working to enhance that.”

Officials from the College of Agriculture and the Division of Administrative Affairs will conduct a short information session for students and other interested in the concepts being explored on Thursday, Feb. 26, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Kellogg West Auditorium.

Steven  Garcia, vice president for Administrative Affairs and CFO;  Walter Marquez , associate vice president, Facilities Planning and Management; Mary Holz-Clause dean, College of Agriculture; and Rebecca Gutierrez Keeton, acting vice president for Student Affairs will be in attendance.