No Decision on Georgetown Campus Plan

The Zoning Commission decided not to decide anything Thursday, during what on the Georgetown University Campus Plan. 

The commissioners generally agreed that students living off-campus have had a demonstrated, negative impact on the quality of life for neighbors. They also agreed that they would like to see enhanced efforts by the university to address those issues and evidence that their solutions are working.

At the conclusion of the public discussion Thursday, the commissioners offered a laundry list of requests for more information on the university's efforts to manage off-campus student life. Those filings are due in April and the commission scheduled another public meeting for May 10.

The evening centered on the core issue raised by neighbors' testimony: that one of the Zoning Commission's obligations when examining a campus plan is to ensure that there are no objectionable impacts on the surrounding community.

Commissioner Peter May said, "We’re not talking about approving a plan with the intention of avoiding objectionable conditions ... I think that there is substantial evidence that these objectionable conditions may exist now."

However, May said he was not comfortable with the Office of Planning's recommendation that 100 percent of undergraduate students be housed in GU-owned housing.

"I would rather the university find some way to address these issues in a more proactive way. I don’t know what it is, I just know that it has not happened yet," said May.

Though Commissioner Konrad Schlater acknowledged that there was proof of negative impacts from students in the community, he said, "I come down on the side that the university is making a good faith effort to manage these impacts."

Additionally, Schlater said he disagreed with the scope of the OP recommendations for undergraduate housing.

"I am very uncomfortable with the idea that we would put in place a complete exclusion of Georgetown students from the neighborhoods surrounding the university."

He did agree with the other commissioners' requests to have GU come back with a report on enhanced efforts to address students living in the community.

Though student behavior and student housing were at issue, the commissioners largely expressed a level of comfort with the enrollment caps as proposed by the university. Their concerns centered around mitigating student impacts, rather than reducing student numbers.

After the hearing, Georgetown University spokeswoman Stacy Kerr released a statement about the Zoning Commissioners' comments and requests.

“We believe that the investments we are making to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding campus are working. We look forward to providing the Commission with further information to show the effectiveness of our investments.”

Questions to be addressed by GU and others before the May meeting:

- Would GU be willing to say they will not purchase properties in commercial zones in the next 10 years?

- Could GU come up with "creative solutions" to improve upon issues with housing, noise and other impacts from students living off campus?

- Could GU commit to a level of staffing for patrols for SNAP or reimbursable details as part of the solutions to student noise?

- Could GU agree to have a senior representative on the community relations group — someone who can actually make decisions? What are the outcomes of those community meetings?

-Could GU work to coordinate its trash program and ticketing with the D.C. Department of Public Works?

- Could GU develop a good plan for addressing parking in neighborhood?

- Could OP offer additional suggestions on student housing, beyond the recommendation for 100 percent GU-provided housing?

- Could both GU and the community parties provide a report on the impacts of students and GU's attempts to mitigate those impacts from the academic year so far?