Conditional use permit expires for Annex

by Taylor Kingsbury
Staff Writer

The Hoover Annex was removed from the University of La Verne in late July, affecting a group of faculty and students.

The Annex, which formerly rested on 3rd Street adjacent to Woody Hall, housed several faculty offices and four classrooms, as well as the Office of Information and Technology.

Removal of the structure has necessitated the movement of these offices and the classes that were held in the Annex.

According to faculty member Brian Worley, the University did not have a say in the removal of the Annex, as the modular buildings were constructed under a conditional use permit from the City of La Verne. A two-year CUP was granted by the city in August 2000, and when the permit came up for renewal this summer, the City ruled that use of the facility was no longer necessary.

"The city found no basis for the continuation of our conditional use permit, so we really had no choice," said Worley.

According to Worley, the space opened by the removal created a "footprint for another building," but he said that the University is unsure of what it will be used for.

"We have needs in almost every area," said Worley. "Obviously most pressing is office and classroom space."

The faculty offices that were formerly in the Annex were spread between the AAIC building and Miller Hall, while the classes that were held in the removed units were absorbed into other buildings as space and scheduling would allow.

Perhaps most affected by the movement are the staff of the Office of Information and Technology, whose department was in the Annex for 8 months before its removal.

The Office has been relocated to the former La Verne Post Office building.

According to Technician Hoyland Chin, the relocation has only been a minor inconvenience, and has yielded some improvements.

"Our old offices were much smaller," said Chin."[The movement] has had no negative impact.

Now that we're a couple of blocks from campus, movement of computer systems has become more difficult. Obviously, we have to walk a little farther since we're not in the middle of campus anymore, but we've combined all of our departments in one building. Everything is much closer now."

Senior Jessica Wotherspoon attended classes in the Annex, and said she didn't like the units.

"That was the stuffy building," said Wotherspoon. "When you walked in that place, the breath of hot air was suffocating."

Wotherspoon added that she wants to see the space put to beneficial use.

"I would like to see that space used for parking," continued Wotherspoon. "Obviously, if they moved the classes, they had room. Parking is the real problem here."

"What we really need is improved facilities across the board," concluded Worley.