With UC San Diego’s campus population already exceeding projections made for a decade from now and further big increases expected, the university is updating its long-range development plan with an objective of creating more housing for students on the west end of the La Jolla campus.

The current plan, completed in 2018, was projected to take the campus through 2035. The revised plan would go through 2040.

The 2018 plan estimated the 2035 campus population at 65,600, including 42,400 students and 23,200 employees. The revised estimate, based on enrollment and staffing trends, projects a total of 96,300 students and employees by 2040.

However, UCSD’s student enrollment already has reached 43,381 as of last fall, according to a campus profile on the university website, with roughly 40,000 employees, according to the University of California.

UCSD attributes the higher-than-projected growth to “demand for higher education and systemwide priorities to increase enrollment.”

A key driver for the plan update is “expanding access to students seeking a high-quality education” in accord with priorities set by the state, the UC system and UC San Diego over the past decade, according to UCSD spokeswoman Leslie Sepuka.

“It requires ongoing investments in infrastructure, classroom space as well as faculty and staff to enhance the student experience,” she said.

In March, a scoping meeting was held to go over the update and take feedback from residents.

“The university is committed to increasing availability of housing for students,” Sepuka said. “The goal is to provide on-campus housing to up to 65 percent of all students and continue to make progress toward a four-year undergraduate housing guarantee at below market rates for comparable units.”

The campus currently houses a little more than 50 percent of its students with a two-year housing guarantee. Most of the student housing is on the west side, so proposed changes include building additional housing and replacing aging facilities.

The university projects a roughly 30 percent increase in new campus development, including more than 21 million square feet of new buildings on the west campus, a 5 million-square-foot increase from the 2018 plan. The revised plan also lists 567,000 square feet of development “nearby,” meaning not on campus.

No changes are proposed for the associated Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

UCSD says it already has added more than 11,000 new beds for student housing in the past 10 years, which it calls the largest such residential expansion in the country.

According to the university, the UC Board of Regents requires every campus in the UC system to have, and periodically update, a long-range development plan.

The plan “defines how a campus will accommodate anticipated enrollment and the faculty and staff needed to support it. A [long-range development plan] is only a guide; it does not commit the campus to specific projects, as it must provide flexibility for changing conditions.”

Not everyone is convinced the expected changes are good.

Though area resident David Lebowitz said he feels the university “does a tremendous amount of good in terms of its research output and providing so many Californians with a high-quality education … I am also concerned about UC San Diego’s record of failing to complete student housing projects on time, the impact on the student experience of living in an increasingly crowded environment that is a perpetual construction zone, and the impact on traffic from such a dramatic increase in campus population.”

“The growth in staff and faculty is likely more impactful from a traffic standpoint, as nearly all will be commuting,” Lebowitz said. “The traffic impact from student growth is more difficult to predict and could depend in large part on how much on-campus student housing is actually built and what restrictions may be placed on student parking on campus.” ◆

The No. 17 Texas A&M men’s tennis team faced off against the No. 18 San Diego Toreros at the Mitchell Tennis Center in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, May 4. The Aggies managed to weather through the lightning delay midway through the match and defeat the Toreros 4-2.

The Aggies earned the right to play the Toreros after defeating the Rice Owls in a perfect sweep on May 3. The win also saw the Maroon and White move to the second round of play for the 17th year in a row.

A&M continued its doubles success from the first round, as it won the first match in lopsided fashion when the Frenchman combination of senior Raphael Perot and freshman Tiago Pires squashed San Diego’s team of graduate Savriyan Danilov and sophomore Lambert Ruland, 6-1.

Equalizing the score in doubles play, the San Diego duo of sophomore Oliver Tarvet and redshirt sophomore Stian Klaassen defeated the team of junior JC Roddick and freshman Lathan Skrobarcek at a rather fast pace, 6-1.

Then, earning the doubles point for the Aggies, the Turkish and the Italian were to the rescue. The No. 14 duo of junior Giulio Perego and sophomore Togan Tokac defeated the Toreros’ No. 90 duo of redshirt senior Sacchitt Sharrma and junior Iiro Vasa, 6-3.

With a 1-0 lead, the Fightin’ Farmers kept the momentum rolling as junior Luke Casper secured the victory in two sets over San Diego’s Sharma, 6-3, 6-1.

Down 2-0, the Toreros proceeded to turn the tables, winning the next two matches. Klaasen was the first to put his name in the win column after taking down Pires in two sets, 6-4, 6-1. Tying things up at 2 for the Toreros, Danilov defeated Tokac in two sets, 6-2, 6-4.

With things looking up for San Diego, a lightning delay stopped both teams in their tracks. A&M benefited from the stop of play, as Perego proceeded to come out and make the score 3-2 after defeating Ruland in three sets, 7-3, 7-6 (10-8).

With the duel and a ticket to the Super Regional on the line, No. 42 Roddick clutched up for the Aggies. He came back after losing the first set to San Diego’s No. 85 Vasa, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

A&M came out fast and did not let a stubborn San Diego squad stop it from coming away with the win. A&M will now move onto the Super Regional and compete on May 10 or 11 against Texas in Austin.

The San Diego Padres went big game hunting once again on Friday. Padres general manager A.J. Preller pulled the trigger on a trade, bringing in two-time batting champion Luis Arráez. 

Arráez will make his way from South Beach to Southern California. The 27-year-old will be responsible for taking this Friar team over the top and becoming contenders once again. If his numbers tell us anything, he will indeed do just that. 

Arráez is not off to such a hot start in the season, but his numbers through his first five seasons are special. CBS Sports’ social media manager, Danny Vietti, shared via Twitter that his numbers are very similar to those of the Hall of Famer and Padres legend Tony Gwynn. 

This doesn’t mean the Padres have themselves the next Tony Gwynn, but this is crazy. 

Mr. Padre is one of a kind, and no one will ever be like him. In his legendary 20-year career, Gwynn finished with a .338 batting average, .847 OPS, 3,141 hits, 135 home runs, 1,138 RBIs, and only 434 strikeouts in 2,440 games and 10,232 plate appearances. On top of that, he’s a five-time Gold Glove winner, seven-time Silver Slugger, eight-time batting champion, and a 15-time All-Star. It’s safe to say Arráez won’t accomplish that.

While the numbers are similar through their first five seasons, comparing Arráez to Gwynn is unfair. Nonetheless, Arráez is an elite-caliber player. They’ll need him to be as the Padres sit at 17-18, second in the National League West. The two-time All-Star has had himself one heck of a career thus far. He’s recorded a .324 batting average in six seasons, .801 OPS, 122 OPS+, 688 hits, 24 home runs, and 206 RBIs in 569 games, and 2,124 at-bats. 

Men lie, women lie, but numbers do not lie. Preller has done it again.

More Padres: Padres to Make Massive Trade, Acquire All-Star Infielder Luis Arraez From Marlins