Marymount Is Welcome, but Expansion May Not Be
Some Neighbors Oppose Its Constructions Plans

By Leef Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 30, 2006

Neighbors of Marymount University in Arlington say they have no gripe with the institution, which has been educating students at its North Glebe Road campus for more than half a century.

It is the university's plans to expand -- by transforming an asphalt parking lot into a dense, multistory academic and dormitory facility -- that is angering some neighbors.

Marymount's neighbors near the parking lot, which is bordered by Yorktown Boulevard, 26th Street North and Old Dominion Drive, say the busy intersections can't handle more traffic, and they complain that the proposed development -- which includes four levels of underground parking and three stories of above-ground construction -- will dwarf their neighborhood.

"Marymount is good for Arlington, there's no doubt about it, but we wonder why they're taking a small piece of property and increasing [campus] square-footage by a third," said resident Tom Simpson, who lives four houses away from the proposed development. "They seem to want to grow hugely, and they don't seem to care about the neighborhood or what neighbors think."

Since the expansion was proposed last year, two neighborhood civic associations have voiced strong concern about the project. Members of the groups have packed public meetings to suggest that the university rethink its plan for the building, particularly the way it will affect traffic.

And they've recently had some success, they said. Last week, the county's Transportation Commission voted to defer a recommendation on the project, saying that too many questions remained unanswered. On Monday, after a lengthy discussion, the Planning Commission voted 8 to 2 to defer its recommendation until January.

The County Board is to hear the matter on Dec. 9.

"I've been very concerned from Day One," said Vaughn Collins, who lives three doors away from the university on 26th Street. "We bought here because Marymount is here. They add a lot to the community, but what they're proposing to do is something out of scale. They have every right to do something, but this is not appropriate."

Marymount officials say they are listening to neighbors' concerns, calling the development "a work in progress." While they say they are considering a host of traffic-calming measures suggested by the county, the scope of the building project has so far not changed much from the original proposal.

"We're trying to do what we can in a reasonable way to make sure we're identifying the concerns the neighbors have," said Chris Domes, vice president for enrollment and student services at Marymount. "But at this point we don't have any plans to reduce the size of the project. We feel like, as it stands, it meets our current needs."

Those needs, Domes said, center on addressing a lack of parking, adding academic space and providing more student housing.

Under the plan, the university will scrap its 170-space parking lot for an underground garage that will accommodate about 370 vehicles. The structure will be extended upward to include two buildings: one to house 250 undergraduate students, the other to be devoted to classrooms and faculty office space, including a lecture hall, a small theater and a number of student labs.

Marymount now has campus housing for 680 of its 2,200 undergraduate students, and 120 others live off campus in hotels and apartments leased by Marymount. Under the university's proposal, the off-campus housing would be given up after the property redevelopment.

"The idea is that off-campus ad-hoc housing is not optimal," said Shelley Dutton, a university spokeswoman. "So, yeah, the idea is to have those students living on campus so they can be more fully engaged."

University officials said the plan has the support of many neighbors -- such as John Manning, 82, whose home is on a cul-de-sac that abuts the university. Manning and his wife have lived there 37 years, and both view the development as necessary for the university's success.

"Universities and colleges need to expand and grow," Manning said. "They're a business of education."