After extensive debate about architecture and parking, the College Park City Council voted unanimously to approve plans for a third phase of the University View on Tuesday night.
The University View Village, or University View III, would offer 992 student beds and 19,000 square feet of retail space just north of the existing View complex. Council members decided to approve the project after the city struck a compromise with the developer over parking.
Despite gaining approval from the city, developers won't be moving ahead on the View Village project until at least the end of next summer, development director Bob Elliott of Clark Construction said, after they see how students are responding to University Overlook, the second phase of the University View that's now under construction.
Last week, city staff and council members told the project's developers they didn't offer enough parking. Their plan relied on using on-campus lots as overflow from their own garages even as the university refused to guarantee such an arrangement in the long run.
Council members said they would have preferred to see the developers add a level to the project's parking garage, but were told the $1.6 million cost of such a change could jeopardize the entire development.
After a private discussion between two city officials and representatives from developer Clark Enterprises, the sides agreed Clark would have to find a way to provide extra parking for the project's residents if the university stopped allowing on-campus parking. In exchange, the city would not immediately force the developers to expand the 462-space parking garage.
Norman Rivera, an attorney for Clark Enterprises, said it was in their best interests to avoid a parking shortage.
"From a marketing standpoint, they can't afford to not have parking for their students," he said.
Some council members said they were still unhappy with the appearance of the building even after developers offered some minor changes, alternating more between brick and other materials in an attempt to add variety to the building's façade.
"I am personally not quite satisfied with the architecture. No offense intended," District 4 Councilwoman Mary Cook said. "Just looking at this, this is a little bit disappointing to me. I would have liked them to come up with something more to break this up."
District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin added that as much as the city might have preferred a different building style, county officials who have the final say prefer the design as is.
"I think we've reached a good compromise. I'm a little concerned about the architecture, but I don't think there's anything we can do at this time," Catlin said.
It was not easy to reach the compromise, which left some members of the development team visibly frustrated as they conferred quietly but heatedly in the audience during the meeting.
"You can only fight them so much," Rivera told his clients at one point as City Planning Director Terry Schum presented her complaints about the project to the council.
"In this business, you've got to try and address everybody's issues," Rivera explained in an interview after the meeting. "At the end of the day, Clark is satisfied we have a project that is economically viable and addresses the conditions from the city."
But while developers repeatedly pointed to the success of the original University View to indicate their experience with student housing, they would not say how they will distinguish the View Village from its incoming competition.
"We'll probably work on that as we progress over time," Elliott said.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, the council approved a formal transfer of city-owned land to the developers of StarView Plaza, another planned student housing complex, which officials estimate is at least six months behind its originally planned opening date of August 2010. Plans call for the development to be environmentally friendly and house 662 students when it is built on Route 1 near the College Park Car Wash.
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