Tea Silvestre displays a shirt that Lodi officials have made to help promote a San Joaquin Delta College campus in the city. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Lodi recommends two plots of land for Delta satellite campus

Two large tracts of land to the north and east of Lodi are prime locations for a community college satellite campus, say the leaders of a committee looking to ensure that campus is built in Lodi.

San Joaquin Delta Community College has been looking for a site to build a satellite campus in the northern part of the college's district since voters passed a $250 million bond measure for the school in March of last year.

Lodi representatives are taking their recommendations to the college's board of trustees at its meeting Tuesday night. To help show their support the city has made a small number of purple T-shirts bearing the slogan: "S.J. Delta College Lodi."

Lodi and Galt are both vying for the campus, which they see as a huge revenue generator and lure for future development.

Galt also has its own committee looking to how it can secure the Delta campus.

At a special Lodi City Council meeting Tuesday morning, City Manager Blair King said the committee looking into possible Lodi sites have found two groups of properties that meet the needs of the college.

He said the city is keeping the exact location of those properties to itself so as to not compromise any property negotiations.

In vague terms, King described the sites as east of Lodi along Highway 12 and an area north of the Mokelumne River to about Woodbridge Road and along Highway 99.

"We don't want land speculation to drive the price up," King said.

The derelict Victor Fine Foods property to the east of Highway 99 is within the area laid out by the committee, but was not specifically mentioned.

That property has come up in discussing a college campus in the past, but by itself at about 26 acres falls far short of the amount of land the college needs.

Councilman Bob Johnson helped lead the city committee looking into properties for the college.

He said they found people willing to sell their land and then contacted neighboring landowners to gauge their interest.

Delta college is looking for a site of about 75-100 acres, at least 10 miles from the existing campus, near infrastructure, affordable and with the support of the public.

Councilman Larry Hansen said while its tough to find cheap land surrounding Lodi, the city can offer everything else that Delta is looking for in its campus search.

"I would submit this morning that this community has supported the project right out of the gate," Hansen said. "I think we have a couple of great potential sites worthy of their consideration."

Initial plans called for the campus to offer specialized degrees through a police and fire academy, but that has now grown to include a possible viticulture and enology school as well as health care training.

King said the city will disclose its possible campus sites to the college board during an executive session.

The college has hired its own consultant to seek sites in the Lodi and Galt areas for a campus.

King said he hopes to see Lodi's recommendations included with the consultant's list of possible sites.

Contact reporter Andrew Adams at andrewa@lodinews.com.