From the Orange County Register:
The president of Golden West College has recommended against a controversial proposal to build a Costco discount store on 14 acres of the campus, according to a report released Thursday to college trustees.
“I recommend … that the district reject this proposal,” college President Wes Bryan wrote to the board of trustees of the Coast Community College District, which operates the college.
Instead, Bryan, who initially supported the project, recommended that officials move forward with the plans already spelled out in the college’s master plan to develop a six or seven-acre parcel for student or faculty housing, or other needs.
City officials said they’re disappointed in the report.
“We think it made sense and to have gone forward,” said Stanley Smalewitz, the Huntington Beach economic development director. “It would’ve been compatAible with the campus and neighborhood.”
In his report, Bryan reiterated concerns from opponents. He said the Costco project would be too large, provide too much “traffic for an already congested street” and create a negative impact on the community.
The location for the proposed student housing is “too close to high tension wires and may propose real or perceived health risks,” he wrote.
The proposal to build a Costco, student housing and a pedestrian bridge near Gothard Street on land now used for sports and parking has been championed by the city economic development department as a way to bring revenues to the city and college and also provide student housing.
Opponents to the project were ecstatic to hear the news.
“I think he came to the right decision of ‘let’s not sell the college,’” said Robert Sternberg, an opponent who lives a half mile from the site. “It’s not all free money. It has a price. All that glitters is not gold.”
