tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post4136133651206440211..comments2024-03-22T16:02:08.213-05:00Comments on The Wheel: Student Housing Nears the End GameMark Stegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02376182294736839659noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-31905453947869519512021-09-26T15:25:42.394-05:002021-09-26T15:25:42.394-05:00Marcia Grau, good find. Rezoning from Technical Of...Marcia Grau, good find. Rezoning from Technical Office to Planned Development is not a killer obstacle after all.Mark Stegerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02376182294736839659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-24020227621356898492021-09-26T14:15:09.039-05:002021-09-26T14:15:09.039-05:00Marcia Grau Here's a precedent that was unanim...Marcia Grau Here's a precedent that was unanimously approved - <br />"The Richardson City Council on Monday unanimously approved a request to rezone 13.3 acres next to the university from technical office to a planned development." <br /><br />It was awhile back but the approved area is noticeably closer to residential areas. <br />The big difference in the approved one seems to that UTD requested the zoning change.<br />https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2014/05/13/richardson-council-approves-zoning-for-ut-dallas-mixed-use-neighborhood/<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10636095311119311357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-65419377684557885492021-09-26T11:47:58.286-05:002021-09-26T11:47:58.286-05:00I ended my blog post above with a prediction that ...I ended my blog post above with a prediction that if (when?) the City Council rejects this student housing project, "All that will be left for us then is to wonder why, because the reasons given by the CPC don't stand up to even cursory examination." I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but one answer to "why" is that the City Council is falling out of love with having a world-class university within its city. You can't have a university without students. This <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/judge-orders-uc-berkeley-to-freeze-enrollment-after-neighborhood-group-sues/vi-AANKoe6" rel="nofollow">story from UC-Berkeley</a> may be a harbinger of the direction Richardson's City Council is going. The City Council can keep us from moving closer to that end state by approving more nearby private student housing. I'm afraid a "no" vote will signal not just "no" to a housing project, but fundamentally a "no" to a university in Richardson.Mark Stegerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02376182294736839659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-32820862169272092952021-09-26T11:23:42.272-05:002021-09-26T11:23:42.272-05:00Yes, it feels like Richardson wants the prestige o...Yes, it feels like Richardson wants the prestige of a major university but not the students it needs to survive. <br /><br />The applicant shared this news earlier - the neighborhood groups around UC Berkeley sued and got their enrollment frozen. They weren't building enough housing for their students who were pushing into their neighborhoods like they are here.<br /><br />https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/judge-orders-uc-berkeley-to-freeze-enrollment-after-neighborhood-group-sues/vi-AANKoe6Louis Burnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01369139314323691295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-52627507238845461632021-09-26T10:52:17.687-05:002021-09-26T10:52:17.687-05:00Louis Burns, thanks for the feedback. Your points ...Louis Burns, thanks for the feedback. Your points are all on the money. I hadn't thought of this until you just said it, but the only way to get rid of student traffic around UTD is to get rid of students attending UTD. Simply forcing students to live farther away from campus won't do it. On the other hand, accommodating students closer to campus, as this project does, *will* reduce traffic of students commuting to campus from farther way.<br /><br />To everyone, Louis Burns has said much more about this project in both recent CPC public hearings on this project. I urge all to read them in the agenda packets or watch him deliver his remarks in the CPC recorded video.Mark Stegerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02376182294736839659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-76486687805994856292021-09-26T10:28:57.983-05:002021-09-26T10:28:57.983-05:00Another commissioner commented that he was against...Another commissioner commented that he was against it because it would bring more traffic to the area. That was right after staff reported that the applicant had a traffic study done that was essentially reporting no significant impact. <br /><br />That ignores the obvious observation that all those students are already driving to campus from elsewhere. Some of them living and walking across from campus would be less traffic, not more. Our current state is the higher traffic condition. <br /><br />To be entirely fair, the first project looked like garden-style apartments. The latter one looks like the Drury Plaza Hotel 4 miles away at CityLine - almost the exact same size.<br /><br />It's funny that they claim it's a problem that this student housing project might be occupied by non-students. Northside (according to a current non-student resident) has zero design accommodations for students. They're not even attempting to be student housing - they're just regular apartments and no one seems to have a problem with that. <br /><br />But the comment that there's nothing like this in Richardson is completely false. These larger buildings are all over and not even exclusively near TODs. Louis Burnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01369139314323691295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-1694517803180728572021-09-25T15:30:12.568-05:002021-09-25T15:30:12.568-05:00Marcia Grau, thanks for the suggestion. I don'...Marcia Grau, thanks for the suggestion. I don't intend to email the Council members, but I can't stop others from doing so. :-)Mark Stegerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02376182294736839659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2498525082522582900.post-79133784701606099502021-09-25T15:13:12.657-05:002021-09-25T15:13:12.657-05:00Marcia Grau here - I would like to ask you to emai...Marcia Grau here - I would like to ask you to email a copy of your article to every Council person before Monday. It will be helpful for them to have this synopsis fresh in their minds. I am sure you already have these but so you don't have to look their addresses are below. Thanks for the information.<br />Bob.Dubey@cor.gov<br />Jennifer.Justice@cor.gov<br />Ken.Hutchenrider@cor.gov<br />Joe.Corcoran@cor.gov<br />Arefin.Shamsul@cor.gov<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10636095311119311357noreply@blogger.com