Residents of Athens' south-side neighborhoods gathered yesterday outside the Athens County Courthouse to protest a proposed student-housing project above the Ohio University Inn on Richland Avenue.
The Summit at Coates Run, an 858-bed apartment building proposed by Edwards Communities Apartments, was granted a zoning certificate on Aug. 27, bringing them one step closer to starting construction.
City administrators are considering a single-building plan for the project instead of the multiple-building plan that was withdrawn March 19 from City Council's approval process. Because the plan is now one continuous building, its new classification designates city administrators, not City Council, to approve it.
Members of the South Side Community Association's executive committee read a statement that outlined their objections to the Summit at Coates Run during the brief news conference.
The committee stressed that their main goal was to preserve the hillside and not to keep off-campus housing away from that location.
We are not opposed to developing the area
committee member Muriel Grim said. If the plan was more like the Carriage Hill Apartments we would be OK with it but this project takes too much away from the beauty of the area.
The neighborhood association opposes the Summit at Coates Run because it would involve removing up to 40 feet of the hillside, affecting the environment, increasing traffic congestion and failing to preserve the burial mounds located there, according to the statement.
The reclassification of the project, which gives city administrators the power to approve it, does not allow the public and other city officials to voice their concerns through the public hearings, planning commission meetings and City Council meetings that the multiple-building plan would have required, according to the statement.
Members of the committee held signs with Service-Safety Director Ray Hazlett's contact information and encouraged the public to tell him about their objections to the project. They also asked for donations to help cover court costs for other lawsuits against Edwards Communities Apartments.
However, Hazlett said the single-building proposal meets all Athens city codes and zoning laws.
The difficulty is that some of the issues are not addressed by current ordinances
Hazlett said. The opposition to the plan was a good idea, he said, as it could lead to changing city codes.
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