No, private megadorms canโt be dropped into a Tucson neighborhood without a rezoning process.
Of course they canโt, but unfortunately that actually had to be said.
The Tucson City Council sent the University of Arizona and private developers a message Tuesday by approving a legal letter from City Attorney Mike Rankin. It will say that the proposed Honors College dormitory must go through a rezoning, no matter what machinations the UA and developer American Campus Communities go through to avoid it.
This is important not just for this case but as a precedent with important timing. Dr. Robert Robbins is poised to take over as UA president in about a week, on June 1, and he will be the lucky recipient of the opportunity to spend around $200 million on constructing what will likely be two new research buildings.
Itโs a good time to lay down some ground rules for the growing UA domain in the heart of the city.
The dorm project would house 1,000 students in the UAโs Honors College and also have classrooms, office space, a recreational center and a four-story parking garage. It would be between East Drachman and Mabel streets and North Park and Santa Rita avenues, north of East Speedway โ outside of the existing campus boundaries.
The trick at the heart of the project is this: The developer, Austin, Texas-based American Campus Communities, owns part of the land on which the project would be built. The university owns the other part. Under the proposed deal, the UA would take ownership of all the land, but it would make a ground lease with the developer, which would then build and operate the dorm.
That would allow the university and developer to evade zoning codes, because the university, as a state entity, is not subject to them.
That could make a big difference in an old neighborhood that has been steadily encroached on by the university for years. Itโs a typical old central Tucson area of old, low houses and newer, bigger apartments. But the dorm would be of a completely different scale โ up to six stories high โ a little city unto itself.
โItโs right across the street from me,โ Grace Rich, president of the North University Neighborhood Association, told me. If it goes in, โMy life is toast.โ
While this project alone could disrupt Richโs life and her income โ she rents a unit of her duplex โ it also would set a dangerous precedent that could be replicated all around the university area, or anywhere in the city.
Itโs worth noting that the new, nine-story Banner University Medical Center building is nearby and went through the tough work of dealing with neighbors and winning a rezoning.
Council member Steve Kozachik, who works for the university, has been standing up for the neighborhoods on this issue.
โMy concern about this is this is a replicable model anywhere in the city, when the state finds a willing private property owner who will sell them their ground, pulling it out of the standard zoning process,โ he said.
โItโs the model that really is troubling to me โ theyโve crafted an end-run around the public rezoning process because itโs not convenient.โ
That, of course, is not how the university views the project. UA spokesman Chris Sigurdson issued a statement after Tuesdayโs City Council vote saying:
โWe continue to work with the neighborhood association and with homeowners in the project area to describe the project concept, our need for an honors college residence hall and how it would manifest in the neighborhood. Moving forward we certainly would work in close cooperation with the city and the residents and comply with all applicable laws.โ
That phrase โapplicable lawsโ is really the central issue here โ what laws apply?
That matters more now because the university is poised to come into $400 million for maintenance and construction of new buildings. This is thanks to the bill that Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law Monday, which allows for $1 billion in bond funding for the stateโs three universities.
โWe believe weโll get about $400 million of bonding authority, give or take,โ the UAโs chief financial officer, Gregg Goldman, told me earlier this month. โRoughly $200 million will go to deferred maintenance and renewal, $200 million toward research infrastructure.โ
The likelihood is the $200 million for new construction will be enough to pay for two new research buildings, Goldman said.
He acknowledged the new university president will likely set priorities that help determine how the money is spent. Thatโs as it should be.
But you would also think that Robbins doesnโt want a community-relations mess on his hands when he starts his new job.
The best way to avoid that would be to build trust by committing to following the rezoning process for a private megadorm in an off-campus neighborhood. Thatโs a good precedent.
