The zoning approval process for Southern Virginia University’s proposed new dormitory has been paused for about a month so Buena Vista City Council can gather more information about the university’s plans for parking.
City Council members complained, at last Thursday’s meeting, that SVU’s plans were incomplete for accommodating an influx of additional cars on campus that would necessarily come with a 600-bed dormitory. Many of the students who now live off campus would be expected to move into the planned new dormitory but a preliminary parking plan shows only a net increase of 13 parking spaces on campus.
The numbers don’t add up, Council members observed. They acknowledged that not every student who will live in the new dormitory will have a car, but, they pointed out, there will undoubtedly have to be significantly more parking spaces than the preliminary plan shows.
Council was considering SVU’s application for a conditional use permit to construct a 218,525-square-foot dormitory and a request to abandon various rights of way associated with developed and undeveloped roads and alleys that crisscross the site where the dormitory is to be built.
The Planning Commission, which earlier approved certificates of appropriateness for the design of the dormitory and demolition of seven structures to make way for the project, recommended approval of the CUP and abandonments.
The university currently has an enrollment of about 1,100 students. SVU officials say two-thirds of students, or about 650, have cars. An inventory of existing parking on campus conducted by SVU showed 1,235 spaces, which would appear to be an adequate number. However, the inventory counts a couple of hundreds spaces at the Ranch Golf Club (the former Vista Links golf course) that’s well off campus as well as parking for The Fields athletic facilities on the other side of campus from the new dormitory site.
The idea of students having to park a long way from their residence hall worried Council member Michelle Poluikis. “I’m thinking you’re going to have girls coming home late at night and having to park blocks away,” she said. “That doesn’t sit well with me.”
Council member Steve Webb said he lives near campus and SVU’s parking situation is worse than he’s ever seen it. Students, he said, aren’t abiding by the rules when they park their cars. “They park anywhere they want, anytime, day and night, and I’ve even seen them park in the street.”
Council member Stanley Coffey said it’s unknown how many more cars will be on campus when the new dormitory opens but the city and SVU have to be prepared. “You don’t know whether you’re going to get 300 people coming in here, new people. They see this new facility and say, all right, let’s go to SVU. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Webb asked Tom Roberts, the city’s director of community development, why Council was holding first readings on the ordinances for the CUP and abandonments “when you’ve not worked out the details yet?”
Roberts explained that city staff has been diligently reviewing the site plan with SVU officials, discussing various issues that the project entails.
Issues being addressed, he said, include “Are they providing adequate parking? Are they providing adequate landscape screening, you know, do they have adequate pedestrian circulation, sidewalks and various technical things … Does the site plan meet the regulations that we have on the books? The conditional use permit is a discretionary review, and it can include considerations of a variety of factors. Parking can be a consideration of the conditional use permit, but it doesn’t have to be.”
Even just conducting the first readings, said Poluikis, without making sure there’s enough parking, could “come back and bite us later … Because I’ve got to tell you, for me, that is a horribly inadequate parking situation.”
Webb suggested postponing the first readings of the ordinances for 30 days in order to “get everything ironed out.” This would give staff sufficient time to return with a more complete report, he said.
Webb made a motion to table the first readings for 30 days and direct staff to get a more detailed report on how SVU plans to provide parking to accommodate the additional students that will result from the new dormitory. At Mayor Tyson Cooper’s suggestion, the motion was amended to reschedule the first readings for City Council’s Oct. 3 meeting.
The amended motion was adopted by a 6-0 vote. Plans call for the five-story dormitory to be built on the western side of campus, north of the university library and west of Kimball Student Center. SVU officials, who first presented the plans to city officials in early July, have indicated they’d like to start construction on the project later this year.
