Riverside, Calif., May, 2000--A lumbering column of construction earthmovers tells traffic on Pierce Avenue what La Sierra University administrators have known for some time: The La Sierra land development plan is not just a done deal - it's a present reality.

The sale of nearly 200 acres of university land to a Calabasas-based developer marks the most significant physical change to La Sierra in the institution's 78-year history. The ambitious land development plan in Riverside's Ward Seven (or La Sierra neighborhoods) also marks one of the largest residential housing developments in the city's recent history.

More than 200 people are expected to gather on Friday, May 19, at 3 p.m. for a symbolic tree-planting ceremony that will serve as the project's official start. The ceremony will take place just off Pierce Avenue, approximately a half-mile north of the 91 interchange. On an abandoned parking lot from a long- defunct golf driving range, La Sierra President Lawrence Geraty and Paul Griffin, president of Griffin Industries, will plant a schinus molle tree, more commonly known as a pepper tree. The tree will be the first of more than 20,000 that the land development corporation will plant in its residential developments.

In addition to city dignitaries and members of the La Sierra Board of Trustees, Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge and Ward Seven city councilwoman Laura Pearson will be in attendance.

Land Developer: On March 10, Griffin Industries signed a deal to purchase approximately 200 acres of university property. Through the years, the university used the acreage for agricultural purposes and to support a longstanding university dairy - a facility which closed in 1989.

The majority of this acreage will go toward the development of 1,044 residential housing units, which will be placed in eight distinct subdivisions. Plans that fall under the Griffin-La Sierra agreement were approved at the March 18, 1998, meeting of the Riverside City Council.

Park Land and Ceremonial Entrance: Plans call for a 50-acre tract of land directly east of the campus (an area of comparable size to the existing La Sierra campus) to become university "park land": landscaped walkways, irrigation-fed streams and a series of athletic fields for student and employee use. An as-yet-unnamed ceremonial entry to the campus will bisect the 50-acre tract. Traffic that currently uses Pierce Street to reach the "Five Corners" intersection will be rerouted to a new street, which will skirt the bottom periphery of the 50-acre lot. This new street, to be called "RiverWalk Parkway," will reroute Pierce Street traffic to Golden Avenue, a street immediately east Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists building. As traffic travels north on the new street, drivers will see an additional 26 acres of park improvements with trails, lakes and streams, historical monuments and recreational facilities. The wooded expanses and watery features prompted the decision to name the street RiverWalk Parkway at La Sierra University.

With the change in places, the campus will no longer be buffeted by the high-speed traffic on its geographical "front door" and La Sierra employees and students will no longer endure vehicular and bodily risk as they cross or enter Pierce Street.

Backbone Facilities: Under the land development agreement, the university will pay some costs associated with "backbone" improvements for the RiverWalk Parkway. (These improvements include land grading, streets, storm drains, sewers, water, streetlights and sidewalks.) This cost-sharing agreement reflects the shared benefits that La Sierra and Griffin will get out of a new series of roads. Phase I of the project includes the new ceremonial entry and is scheduled for completion by June 1, 2001.

Endowment Growth: All money made in the sale of the property will go toward the university endowment, which currently stands at $8 million. The university will also receive a percentage of sale receipts for finished homes on Griffin's 189 acres - money that will also go toward a growing endowment.

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