'Give me land, lotsa land' is UVSC's new tune

OREM — If you have land in Utah County to sell, Utah Valley State College may be interested in buying it.

As the State Board of Regents in a meeting Thursday considered UVSC's appetite for more real estate, the underlying theme for this and other topics was planning for future growth on Utah's public campuses.

Regents approved a master plan for UVSC that calls for expanding the campus over the next 20 years by 10,000 students to accommodate up to 28,000 students — all while school officials study what it would take to become a university.

On a side note, regents were surprised this week to see that the State Building Board pushed UVSC's request for $48 million in state tax funds for a Digital Learning Center/library to the No. 1 capital priority in the state — the project was fourth on the regents' priority list.

"There is a fundamental failure to communicate between the regents and the State Building Board," said regent David Jordan. He called for an overhaul of the system of communication between the two boards.

UVSC President William Sederburg said lightheartedly after the meeting that he was happy with the Building Board.

To reach its expansion goals, however, UVSC needs land.

One catch is that state lawmakers don't have much of an appetite for "land banking," according to Sederburg. He told regents the school needs to buy land now in places like Payson and faster-growing areas in the county before prices skyrocket — as they have in Salt Lake County and elsewhere.

The price of real estate is soaring in Washington County, which is why regents approved a request by Dixie State College to purchase a $1.6 million apartment complex to better serve its population of students who are married. Dixie President Lee Caldwell estimated that real estate prices have risen 70 percent in his area over the past year.

Dixie officials plan to use revenue bonds to fund purchase of the building, which consists of 19 three-bedroom apartments intended to provide more affordable housing for married students in St. George.

With forward thinking on the mind, regents also approved a motion designed to force college and university presidents to submit five-year budget proposals that would require regents' approval. In the past only proposals that looked at spending needs for the coming fiscal year have been considered, which meets the minimum requirement of state statute.