2008 Woodie Awards
Student apartment project jumps hurdle
Zoning Board gives United Group approval for proposed 400-student complex
Benjamin Pomerance
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: News
Originally published: 12/18/07 at 3:03 PM EST
Last update: 2/6/08 at 2:45 PM EST
Plans to build a large student apartment complex on Broad Street made headway Monday, despite the ever-looming presence of a proposed city ordinance that could derail the entire project.
The ongoing proposal of contracting firm United Group to convert the former St. John's School complex into alcohol- and drug-free student housing continued to make progress among city leaders.
United Group took a major step forward Monday night, winning official approval from the City of Plattsburgh Zoning Board of Appeals. The board voted unanimously to grant the company a special use permit to build their proposed four-story structure and to allow two variances in the city building code that were crucial to the project's continuation.
The board voted that full approval of the special use permit be contingent upon United Group acquiring a piece of property on Broad Street adjacent to the lot where the St. John's School buildings currently stand.
United Group vice presidents Jeffery Smetana and Craig Zogby, who represented the Troy, N.Y., contracting firm at the meeting, said their company is already in negotiations to acquire the lot and hopes to do so, pending approval from the city Common Council.
The additional space on this property, currently owned by the city, would be used as parking space for the new student housing and other locally owned private organizations, including Behavioral Health Services North.
Parking was a primary topic of discussion at Monday night's meeting, with one of the two variances granted by the Zoning Board related to the width of the parking aisles in the private lot for the new student apartments.
City of Plattsburgh regulations require the minimum parking aisle width to be 26 feet, but United Group received approval from the Zoning Board to have a parking lot with only 24 feet of parking aisle space.
The difference, Smetana said, is necessitated by the need for more "green space" surrounding the new building.
The ongoing proposal of contracting firm United Group to convert the former St. John's School complex into alcohol- and drug-free student housing continued to make progress among city leaders.
United Group took a major step forward Monday night, winning official approval from the City of Plattsburgh Zoning Board of Appeals. The board voted unanimously to grant the company a special use permit to build their proposed four-story structure and to allow two variances in the city building code that were crucial to the project's continuation.
The board voted that full approval of the special use permit be contingent upon United Group acquiring a piece of property on Broad Street adjacent to the lot where the St. John's School buildings currently stand.
United Group vice presidents Jeffery Smetana and Craig Zogby, who represented the Troy, N.Y., contracting firm at the meeting, said their company is already in negotiations to acquire the lot and hopes to do so, pending approval from the city Common Council.
The additional space on this property, currently owned by the city, would be used as parking space for the new student housing and other locally owned private organizations, including Behavioral Health Services North.
Parking was a primary topic of discussion at Monday night's meeting, with one of the two variances granted by the Zoning Board related to the width of the parking aisles in the private lot for the new student apartments.
City of Plattsburgh regulations require the minimum parking aisle width to be 26 feet, but United Group received approval from the Zoning Board to have a parking lot with only 24 feet of parking aisle space.
The difference, Smetana said, is necessitated by the need for more "green space" surrounding the new building.
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Shawn Murphy
posted 12/18/07 @ 3:20 PM EST
I applaud a student newspaper that covers news even when students are no longer on campus. After all, news happens in times other than the fall and spring semesters. (Continued…)
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