Sponsors Seek Campus Site : Pierce Faculty Wants More Details on Fair

A proposal to turn Pierce College farmland into the new home of the San Fernando Valley Fair was criticized by college professors Tuesday as vague and sketchy.

Members of the college’s Planning and Budget Committee said they want more details from fair operators before they take a stand on the fair’s plan to relocate to Woodland Hills.

The fair’s sponsor, 51st District Agriculture, must find a new site by next summer for its 5-day carnival. The fair’s former home at Cal State Northridge’s North Campus has been taken over for university development.

Fair officials have been negotiating with Pierce College administrators for more than a year. Two weeks ago, fair organizers submitted a 30-page relocation proposal that they hope will be approved by the college by the end of the year.

But some committee members complained Tuesday that the plan is short on details--such as how many permanent buildings will be needed, what impact the carnival-like fair will have on nearby neighborhoods and what other uses will be considered for the site between fairs.

‘Don’t Have Specifics’

“We’re dealing with vagaries here. We don’t have specifics,” said committee member Max Hotop, an assistant professor of physics and vice president of the college’s Academic Senate.

Panel member Tom Kramer, a journalism professor, said it is “ridiculous to be part of the process when we don’t have information” to make a decision on the fair proposal.

“We have no concrete proposal before us. This is just too vague,” said history professor Sid Elman, head of the college’s teachers union. “If we parcel out Pierce piecemeal, we’re doing a disservice to the college.”

Several fair supporters--including Agriculture Department chairman Mick Sears--assured the committee that the fair will add to the stability of Pierce’s beleaguered farming and livestock program.

But the professors’ skepticism was applauded by fair opponents. Several of them predicted dire consequences for both the college and surrounding residential areas if the fair is allowed to move to a 30-acre farm site on the west side of the campus.

‘Not Coming to Help’

“I ask you not to be naive,” said Shirley Blessing, a representative of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization. “The fair’s not coming here to help Pierce. They’re coming because they need land and you have land.”

Neighbor Sy Spalter warned that it might be impossible to undo damage once the fair is established. “I don’t see how cementing and asphalting our open land contributes to the agriculture program,” he said.

Julie Turner, a supervising accounting clerk at the college who lives a block away from the campus, predicted that the fair would be a “three-ring circus” that would not benefit the college. “I’m so furious you folks are even thinking of the fair coming here,” she told the committee.

Psychology professor Gale James said the fair’s commercialization would detract from the collegiate atmosphere of the campus, signaling “that academics may not be our first concern.” She urged that a master plan be drawn up for the 400-acre campus before any more of it is parceled out for outside activities.

College Vice President William Norlund said he hopes the committee will decide next week whether to recommend that acting Pierce president Jean Loucks endorse the fair proposal for college district trustees.

But that’s not likely, said panel member Hotop. “There are still a lot of loose ends” and unanswered questions, he said after the meeting.