The supplemental capital budget lawmakers passed before adjourning last week included $3 million for the campus, a respectable sum in a short session when the watchword was keeping additional spending in check. Of five requests for capital funding made by the University of Washington, the UWT’s was the only one granted.

Most of the money will go toward one of the UWT’s top priorities: securing room for growth. The university plans to use $2 million to buy land, possibly including one parcel that had been slated for condominium development before lawmakers intervened last year.

The developer abandoned plans for a condo project after the Legislature removed a key tax incentive last year, but nothing – short of outright purchase – could guarantee that the land would still be there when the UWT needed it.

That’s the situation the university faces with all of the nearly five acres it must acquire to secure its 46-acre footprint. The UWT is the only public university campus in the state that does not own its entire footprint.

The campus has been hemmed in by development from the day it opened in 1990. That wasn’t as big a problem back when downtown property was a bargain. But the revitalization that the UWT helped spark has driven competition and prices higher, threatening the campus’ ability to stay ahead of development pressures.

The UWT already has a small footprint for an urban campus; anything that encroaches on it will also crimp the campus’ ability to meet the growing demand in the South Sound for college degrees.

The capital budget appropriation is a recognition of the important role the UWT now plays in the state’s higher ed system. It wouldn’t have happened without strong support from the governor and lawmakers. Gov. Chris Gregoire got the ball rolling by putting $2 million for the UWT in her capital budget request. Lawmakers added $1 million for cleaning up contaminated groundwater and soil beneath existing UWT property.

Credit goes also to UW regents, who are meeting today at UWT. Supplemental budget requests are usually reserved for pressing circumstances. By including property acquisition money in their request to the Legislature this year, the regents demonstrated that they understand the urgency of nailing down the UWT’s future.