The first conceptual plans for the University Village on Ramona Avenue have been drafted and as planning efforts progress the University Enterprises Development Group is looking into the possibly of additional land for the new homes, according to the Sacramento State Bulletin.

Twenty-five acres of land between Folsom Boulevard and Power Inn Road are intended to hold 500 housing units, a community center, shops and restaurants for Sacramento State faculty and staff by 2008.

The housing units are expected to be a mix of rental apartments, for-sale condominiums, and single-family homes. The Ramona Avenue access will be extended to encourage faculty and staff to bike or walk to Sac State.

An ongoing online survey was finalized on Friday looking for feedback from the campus community about housing specifics in the future gated village.

Since the land is university-owned it would make housing affordable to faculty and staff because only the homes will be sold and not the property, according to the University Enterprises Development Group.

Lisa Hall, director of Project and Resource Development for University Enterprises, reported some of the preliminary results from those surveys.

“We got an excellent response that showed a lot of enthusiasm and people seem very excited,” Hall said.

She said a lot of the responses reflected an “it’s about time” attitude. “We don’t have concrete plans yet but the survey results support the direction we’re going in,” Hall said.

The results from the survey showed that people preferred single-family homes. The majority of second choices were mixed responses of townhouses, condos and duplexes Hill said.

Over 20 percent of the campus population replied and mostly in the first few days. The survey was not open to students. Of that 20 percent, 36 percent were faculty and the rest was a good mix of staff and management types Hall said.

Hall said University Enterprises started looking at the property as soon as they knew it was becoming available with closing of the youth authority.

“There is also a potential for acquiring additional land adjacent to the property to expand the size of the new community,” said Matt Altier, vice president for capital planning and resource development and executive director of University Enterprises in a campus press release.

“We’re really investigating our options at this point,” Hall said.

Hall said the sales of the homes would pay any debt for the construction of the homes.Hall said that there are lots of models out there and University Enterprises is looking at other schools like UC Irvine, UC Davis, CSU Monterey Bay and CSU Channel Islands.

“Other campuses are more than happy to offer up (information on) their success and their failures,” Hall said.

Faculty staff housing is more and more commonly done in Calif. because of the housing prices, Hall said. “We know that this is a high priority and we’re going to move as fast as we can.”

Elizabeth Wilson can be reached at [email protected]