Communication With Neighbors, Parking Cited
The zoning approval process for Southern Virginia University’s proposed 600bed dormitory has been postponed for a second time.
Buena Vista City Council this past Thursday tabled the first readings for a conditional use permit and abandonment of various rights of way until City Council’s Nov. 6 meeting.
This was the second straight month Council has pushed back these first readings. At its Sept. 4 meeting, Council tabled the first readings until this past Thursday, Oct. 2. An incomplete parking plan to accommodate the additional cars that students would bring to campus as a result of the new dormitory again figured prominently in the delay of the approval process.
But, at this latest meeting, Council members expressed frustration with SVU officials for not having spoken with near-by neighbors of the dormitory who would be most directly impacted by the development. Council members indicated they wanted SVU officials to meet with those nearby neighbors prior to when Council holds the rescheduled first readings on Nov. 6.
At the latest public hearing on Thursday, Cory Bachman of 162 W. 28th St. reiterated concerns he has expressed previously about the proposed SVU dormitory that would loom over his property. He cited the city’s zoning regulations that he suggested were in conflict with the plans for the dormitory. The rules promote “livable streets and neighborhoods” as well as “organic growth” that should be gradual, rather than massive development all at once, he asserted.
Bachman said other neighbors, many of them elderly, share his concerns, one of whom he had talked to, just prior to the meeting, that he said is quite “distraught” over the prospect of a huge dormitory being built next to the neighborhood. “I keep hearing talk about being a good neighbor,” he remarked. “I keep hearing that over and over and over again. None of my neighbors that I have spoken to have been contacted by the university.”
Heather Madison, a city resident who lives about a mile from SVU, said she would echo everything Bachman said. “The immense size of this building makes it incompatible with the historic aspect of its surroundings,” said Madison. “It will undoubtedly alter the view of the historic area and will then become the most visually prominent building [in the Seminary Hill district].” She added that parking is a “critical issue” to consider.
Amy Gilliam said she felt the project was “being rushed through” and hadn’t been “thoroughly vetted.” The large building, she said, “takes away from the beauty of our city and the building does not fit in with the residential part of the neighborhood. … It would not be in the best interests of the citizens.”
After the public hearing, Tom Roberts, Buena Vista’s director of community development, reported that SVU had made progress in increasing the amount of off-street parking on campus but acknowledged that the parking plan still isn’t complete enough for staff to approve a site plan.
In response to concerns over whether the city has sufficient staff to adequately review plans for the structure as well as stormwater drainage and erosion and sediment control, Roberts said the city contracts with third-party consultants when reviewing projects of this magnitude.
“Shouldn’t SVU have talked with residents concerned about the plans?” asked Council member Stanley Coffey.
Roberts responded that legal notifications had been made to adjoining neighbors but that yes, it would have been wise for SVU officials to reach out directly to the neighbors most directly affected.
“The university should have reached out to the neighbors,” emphasized Vice Mayor Danny Staton, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of Mayor Tyson Cooper. “This would help to build goodwill.”
James Ballstaedt, SVU’s vice president for strategic planning and athletics, admitted that SVU had been remiss in not speaking with the nearby neighbors. He said he had talked to a couple of neighbors affected by easement issues but should have reached out to others.
As for parking issues and how many additional cars students would be brought to campus, Ballstaedt said, the dormitory isn’t being built to add 600 new students. The idea is to bring students to campus who are living in the city’s residential neighborhoods. “Currently we’re full in our beds. … Our total is 534 beds. So you ask the question of how many people are living off campus. It’s over 400 students [who] are taking housing in the town.”
The SVU President’s Council is developing a parking plan that will be approved shortly, he noted. Rather than prohibiting students in certain grades from having cars, parking spaces are to be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Parking stickers will be sold to students to indicate that their cars can be parked in the campus’s parking lots. Ticketing and towing practices will be instituted to enforce the parking rules.
Roberts pointed out that SVU is responsible for enforcing offstreet parking rules and the city is responsible for enforcing onstreet parking rules. He said he understood, from conversations he’s had with university officials, that SVU’s plan for off-street parking spaces indicates an increase, since last month’s meeting, of about 35 percent. Additional spaces are resulting from a new lot that is to be created where a structure was razed at the intersection of Chestnut and Ridge avenues and from ongoing construction at The Fields athletic facilities.
Ballsteadt suggested the city might want to look into the idea of restricting parking in front of city residences to just those residents. He said he’s seen it done in other college communities in which residential parking permits are issued to residents.
Council member Michelle Poluikis said she’s all for the school growing, that she’s an advocate for education. “But I do think, before anything goes forward … you need to … invite everybody up there, have some sort of function and invite all the neighbors. Go down and see, get a view of what it’s going to look like from their yards.”
Having said that, she made a motion to table the first reading for the conditional use permit until SVU officials meet with the neighbors most directly affected by the proposed dormitory – specifically, the inhabitants of seven or eight residences on East 27th and 28th streets.
The consensus of Council was to direct SVU officials to have these conversations with neighbors prior to Council’s Nov. 6 meeting, at which time the matter would be revisited. Two motions to this effect – one to reschedule the first reading for the CUP and the other to reschedule the first reading on rights of way abandonments, both for Nov. 6 – were introduced and adopted by 6-0 votes.
