> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Bundy campus stirs city debate - URL: https://www.smdp.com/bundy-campus-stirs-city-debate/ - Published: 2005-06-10T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T07:14:31.000Z - Author: Ryan Hyatt - Tags: Education, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import *Campus parking murky on horizon Airport Park in November.* CITY HALL — Santa Monica College’s new satellite campus is set to open in less than a month, paving the way for further cooper-ation, or controversy, as the City Council grapples with ways to help accommodate the school’s growth. Santa Monica city staff will ask the City Council on Tuesday to support a pedestrian access agreement to facilitate SMC’s 2005 summer session students at the new Bundy Campus facility, which is slated to open July 5\. In addition, city staff will ask the council to soon consider a long-term vehicle access agreement for the satellite campus, as well as extend SMC’s shuttle lot use until construction begins on the new SMC is currently enrolling students to utilize 11 classrooms for six weeks of general education courses to be taught at its four-story, 66,000 square-foot building located at 3171 South Bundy Drive, just south of and adjacent to the airport. In preparation for this, SMC is completing construction for the facility, which will include parking lot and internal roadway improvements to be ready in time for classes to start in July, according to a staff report. However, SMC does not expect to have enough parking for the site, so city staff is asking the council to allow SMC to create a sidewalk from the airport shuttle lot to the Bundy facility, according to the staff report. If the council approves the agreement, SMC students would have parking access to the shuttle lot throughout the summer. SMC would bear the expense for the sidewalk improvements and the cost of employing a crossing guard to regulate traffic. Councilman Richard Bloom, who has been a longtime critic of SMC’s growth management policies, said he may be able to support the staff’s recommendation in order to aid pedestrians. “On the surface, it sounds reasonable,” Bloom said. “It would be in line with our city’s sustainability plan if we encouraged students to walk, and a good pedestrian shortcut would be good for the nearby restaurants. “We don’t want people to hop in their cars and drive a half-mile when they can walk three blocks.” Bloom said he would also consider supporting a vehicle access agreement which allowed SMC to use the shuttle lot until construction on the new Airport Park begins. However, Bloom’s willingness to work with the college is not necessarily shared by other city officials. > “If construction is not going to start until November, it would be a great benefit to the college to use the shuttle parking, even if they’ve had access to it longer than ever envisioned.” Ofer Grossman, chair of the city’s airport commission — which advises the council on issues concerning the airport and its surroundings — said the public comment he has received does not support the Bundy campus site for the expansion plans in the works. “Everybody is sympathetic to the educational mission of college,” Grossman said. “Residents have been willing to reach in their pockets and support the college with the bond that was passed. “What people are against is the heavyhanded way the college goes about its business.” The airport commission recommended to the council in September that there be no vehicular access allowed to and from the Bundy site until SMC developed a master plan which would indicate how the growth of the campus would be managed. Grossman said the college’s “winning card” is that it is a state institution that does not have to abide by municipal laws. As a result, he said residents living near the Bundy campus would likely be hesitant to allow the college any further foothold at the airport without beginning to address its growth issues with nearby residents. The college contends it has begun taking steps to alleviate resident concerns with a public input and master plan development process that’s in the works. “The process has given us a clear picture of what the future uses are that are needed at the site, so we’ve prepared drawings based on that, and we’ll be looking for public comment in July,” said Don Girard, executive assistant to SMC’s president. Grossman said the master plan process is far from incorporating residents’ concerns and that the college needed to sign a development agreement with the city which would be the best way to foster trust. “I look forward to working with the college and help it find reasonable solutions that will allow an enforceable agreement,” Grossman said. Rob Rader, an SMC trustee, said there have been shortfalls in cooperation between the college and the city in the past, but he hopes those obstacles can be overcome. “I look forward to the college’s plan-ning and development also preserving the quality of life for residents,” Rader said. “One doesn’t have to be a genius to see the benefits of coordinating efforts, rather than working at odds.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 10, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061005.pdf?ref=smdp.com)