April 18, 2011
Dear Neighbor,
You will soon see some orange Public Hearing signs going up in the neighborhood alerting you to potential changes in zoning. I wanted to tell you about the plans before the signs went up so we could talk about them if you had questions or concerns. We have put together a plan that we hope will ease the on-street parking pressure and improve the flow of traffic and safety in the neighborhood. I have included a drawing to make it a little easier to know what might happen.
As you know, our enrollment has grown over the years, so we need more residence hall space.
Our plan is to build a new residence hall on the site where Trimble Hall burned in 1983. It will be between the two existing residences on the south side of Hanna Avenue where the parking lot now sits.
To make way for the residence hall and to provide for adequate parking, we intend to use the property we own in the block bounded by Hanna Avenue, State Street, Castle Avenue, and Mathews Avenue. Our hope is to prevent so many cars from parking on the neighborhood streets. We will also install devices to contain drainage so we can minimize the impact of the parking lot.
The plans also call for rearranging some of the streets to make for better and safer traffic flow in the neighborhood.
With the design of Hanna Avenue, it will be very difficult to exit onto Hanna from Mathews because of the new traffic light at University Drive near Nicosin Hall. Turning west could be very time consuming because of the nearness of the stoplight and cars sitting in line waiting for a signal change. As you can see from the diagram, we would like to close Mathews Avenue where it enters Hanna. We would direct traffic coming north on Mathews to the east along Castle over to State Street and then north to the light at Hanna Avenue. If you miss the turn at Castle, there will be a new drive through the parking lot that will also take you over to State and Hanna. By directing all traffic over to State, we believe it will solve a safety issue and improve the flow of traffic through the neighborhood.
There is a hearing tentatively set for May 12, 2011, at the City County Building. The orange Public Hearing signs will alert you to that hearing. Before then, I would be very glad to visit with you to hear your concerns and answer any questions you might have.
We have worked very hard to be good neighbors, and I wanted to give you some early notice to what the University's plans are and to talk with you about them.
Feel free to call me at work (788-3297) or at home (786-6207).
Kind regards,
David W. Wantz
Associate Vice President
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