Photo courtesy Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University announced Friday that it is submitting plans to the Town of Hamden to add an additional 300 beds on the York Hill campus.
“Quinnipiac wants as many students as possible to live in University-owned housing,” Lynn Bushnell, vice president for public affairs said in a press release. “Our hope is the addition of 300 beds demonstrates how committed we are to alleviating concerns about the number of students living in the community.”
This comes after the Zoning Board of Appeals upheld a cease-and-desist order on Thursday which ordered the school to adjust their housing plans.
According to the New Haven Register, the university has failed to provide one bed for every undergraduate student, which was one condition the Planning and Zoning Commission had when it had approved the new dormitories on York Hill.
The Planning and Zoning Commission gave approval to build up to 2,000 beds on the York Hill campus. The university constructed 1,500 of the 2,000 beds and is now looking to add 300 more according to the press release.
The university plans to seek approval for the additional 200 beds in the future, once the 300 new beds are filled. In September 2014, the University had 271 empty beds, which it hopes to fill in September 2015.
Sal Filardi, vice president for facilities and capital planning, said construction of the new beds will begin immediately after the town approves the estimated $33 million project.
“Ideally, we’d like to make these beds available to students for the start of the Fall 2016 semester, but that would require swift approval by the Town of Hamden,” he said.
Quinnipiac University’s attorney Bernard Pellegrino said the school hasn’t built the rest of the housing facilities because there hasn’t been a need for them.
Pellegrino said he realizes that students prefer the freedom of off campus housing so the university will never have 100 percent capacity.
Assistant Town Planner Dan Kops said those on the commission acknowledged complete residence as unrealistic, and instead set a 95 percent residency goal.
In addition, the university urges the Planning and Zoning Commission to rewrite its student housing regulations to protect residential neighborhoods and where possible restrict, if not eliminate, the possibility of absentee landlords renting to unrelated students in primarily residential neighborhoods according to the press release.
Before the York Hill Campus was built, there was not enough space for students forcing the seniors to live off campus and requiring the school to buy single-family homes for students to rent which led to many problems that the university is still facing today according to the New Haven Register.
The Planning and Zoning Commission also extended its one-year moratorium, which is a temporary prohibition of activity; issuing new student housing permits for six months, while it rewrites its regulations said the press release. The University remains a strong supporter of the moratorium, and would like to see the moratorium in primarily residential neighborhoods to be extended and made permanent.
Many zoning members question why the University doesn’t require more students to live on campus, thus decreasing many of the issues at hand.
Facilities Vice President Sal Filardi said “We think that would put us at a competitive disadvantage,” according to the New Haven Register.
According to President Lahey, the University will invite Hamden residents to attend a town/gown forum in September. In addition, the University is planning to form a town/gown committee comprised of University representatives, town officials, neighborhood association representatives and members of the Mount Carmel business community to address these and other town/gown issues going forward.
