The Problem
The University of West Florida desires access to West Campus property acquired in 2000, and this road will become another entrance to the Main Campus. The Campus Master Plan has recommended a connector bridge to the residential Greenbrier Boulevard to fulfill this function. This route requires leaving campus for over a mile, passing 47 driveways and seven subdivision entrances, and building 1000 foot of bridge/causeway to cross three separate streams. West of Pate Road Greenbrier does not have enough right of way to build an adequate road on to Highway 29—there is a bottle-neck. The Greenbrier route does not include entry into the West Campus. As this website will show: There is a better route. And the better route is best for the university. A Greenbrier route is the worst route for this purpose.
The University of West Florida
Graphic Legend: Note West Campus, East Campus, Pate Road, and Greenbrier Boulevard.
Background
The University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida, is one of thirteen state universities in Florida. Click here for UWF History. UWF is often called “The Campus in the Woods” as the original university property (now the East Campus) consists of 1000 beautiful acres on Thompson Bayou in the woods overlooking the Escambia River and Escambia Bay. In 2000 the university purchased 647 acres of undeveloped wooded property contiguous to and west of the main campus to increase size by 64.7%.
Access to UWF Main Campus is by an East entrance and a South entrance that are 1.5 miles apart. Both of these connect to State Highway 90-A, also called Nine Mile Road, approximately nine miles from the beaches of Pensacola. (Campus Map) There is no roadway connecting the Main (East) Campus with the New (West) Campus although they are contiguous adjacent properties.
The use for the West Campus was initially planned for a football stadium and other athletic facilities. But road access to highway 29 is an impediment. Highway 29 access options include Kingsfield Road and Ten Mile Road. Ten Mile Road west of Pate Road does not have enough right of way for the wide highway needed to carry the traffic load from major events like football. Kingsfield Road does have adequate right of way. (Right of way can be determined by checking the utility pole placement along the road. The utility poles are on the right-of-way, not the private property. Generally the poles mark the line.) After the athletics use was dropped, the property was termed a Research Park. To be more inclusive this was changed to Technical Park, and subsequently to the most generic term, Development Property.
DISCUSSION
The UWF owns 647 acres of undeveloped property (called the West Campus) west of the main East Campus of 1000 acres. This property encircles Scenic Hills North, lies north of Greenbrier Boulevard, and borders Pate Road.
Graphic Legend: East (Main) Campus in Yellow (1000 Acres). West Campus in Red (647 Acres). The white line on the left is Pate Road. The other white line is the Gulf Power transmission line. Scenic Hills North is the “bump” in the red outline.
About a third of the property lies west of Pate Road. The property is directly West of and contiguous with the East Campus along Thompson Stream and Thompson Bayou. The proposed future use of the West Campus has been referred to as a technical park and an industrial park but these terms have been dropped. The university has settled on the more generic and realistic term “development property” as acquiring technical or research tenants is highly competitive among universities.
The University of West Florida is required by state law to maintain a ten year Campus Master Plan (called the CMP)—the current plan is the 2006-16 CMP. The CMP must be updated every five years. Currently a 2011-21 CMP committee is in an early phase to update the plan. The 2006 Campus Master Plan (click the link) is available on-line and full plan documents are available at the John C. Pace Library at UWF.
These Campus Master Plans are the guiding force for future campus development. If a change in plans is to be made, it is through the Campus Master Plan.
