Editorial
Buena Vista City Council wisely applied the brakes last week to the approval process for Southern Virginia University’s proposed five-story, 600bed dormitory that is planned for the west side of campus. We remain convinced that this is a good project for SVU and the city but it’s best to hash out all of the pertinent details before giving the green light for construction to begin.
This massive project is going to fundamentally alter SVU’s campus and the surrounding neighborhood atop Seminary Hill. It is essential that planning for the project ensures that there is an adequate amount of parking on campus and that pedestrian and motorist traffic in the vicinity of SVU can safely coexist.
Rather than holding first readings on ordinances that would have granted SVU a conditional use permit for construction of the dormitory and allowed for the abandonment of various rights of way for developed and undeveloped streets and alleys that crisscross the site, City Council opted to postpone the first readings until Oct. 3. Under this revised timetable, approval of the CUP and abandonments could still occur on Oct. 17, so as to not delay the project.
SVU officials have indicated they want to start construction this fall if they’re able to raise a sufficient amount of money. They have not publicly revealed how much this project is to cost, but it’s likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars. An investment of this magnitude speaks volumes about the vitality of the university and its potential for significant growth in the years ahead.
SVU and the city are growing together and must plan for their future in unison. We can’t fathom where the city would be without SVU. The offspring of faculty and students who have opted to remain here after graduation are helping to populate the city schools with quality students who are raising the division’s test scores. New businesses have sprung up in the city as a result of the university. Buena Vista is more of a college town than it was in former days, when it was known primarily as the industrial hub for the Rockbridge area.
SVU’s enrollment rise has not come without some growing pains. There have been inevitable town and gown conflicts with students moving into the city’s residential neighborhoods. There’s currently a shortage of housing for working families not only in Buena Vista but in the greater Rockbridge area. SVU’s new dormitory should go a long way toward freeing up such housing in Buena Vista.
We are hopeful that steady and frequent communication between city staff and SVU officials will ensure a smooth transition to a university in which most of its students live on campus. City input into the planning for the new dormitory has already produced positive results. SVU is to replace the dilapidated stairs on the south side of campus that descend down to Magnolia and Park avenues. A new set of stairs is planned for the northwest side of campus in the vicinity of Aspen Avenue and 28th Street. Both sets of outdoors stairs should enhance pedestrian connections between the campus and the community.
City staff has now been directed by City Council to work closely with SVU to provide more parking for the new dormitory and find ways to enhance pedestrian and motorist traffic in and around the campus. We’re optimistic that a stronger city-university partnership will produce positive results for both entities.
