Residents Invited to Help Plan College’s Future

SYLMAR — Making good on an earlier promise, Mission College officials invited residents and activists to a brainstorming session Friday aimed at drafting a five-year development plan for the community college.

The session was held in part to make amends for last year’s forfeiture of $4.7 million in state funds earmarked for a new classroom building, additional parking and athletic fields needed to meet the school’s growing 6,000-student body, which is projected to double by 2003.

President William E. Norlund, who announced that he will retire in June, acknowledged at a community forum last November that college officials waited too late to solicit opinions from community groups regarding the expansion plans.