Plans for construction on the McKinley building received the go-ahead from the Zoning Commission of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D on March 15. Although AU submitted its 10-year Campus Plan in 2001, renovation and expansion of the McKinley building required special permission from the Zoning Commission because it was not included in the initial proposal for the tenure, ANC 3D Commissioner Alma Gates said.
Rachel Thompson, chair of ANC 3D, said they approved the McKinley expansion with certain conditions. The elected ANC officials each represent about 2,000 neighbors and review zoning issues in their area, Thompson said.
"Since we are an elected body, our opinion is to be given great weight by the Zoning Commission," Thompson said.
Although ANC 3D approved AU's application for the changes to McKinley in February, five conditions were imposed in an effort to maintain AU's good neighbor policy. The conditions include providing sufficient on-campus housing for 85 percent of the student population, establishing a Neighborhood Action Commission to manage the conduct of students living off campus in neighboring buildings and submitting an updated traffic analysis with every request to erect a new building, according to the ANC 3D's published resolution in February.
According to ANC 3D06 Commissioner Anne Heuer, the conditions meant to address how AU was handling problems with rentals and misbehavior by students living off campus.
Jorge Abud, assistant vice president of Facilities and Administrative Services, said AU has established a Neighborhood Action Commission to handle complaints about improper behavior of student renters in the neighborhood. The university's intervention usually results in positive improvement, Abud said.
Although the Zoning Commission approved McKinley renovation and expansion on March 15 without conditions, Gates said the issue remains that AU has mishandled the Campus Plan. Many of the projects presented in 2001 have not been carried out according to plan, Gates said.
Gates said AU was supposed to eliminate some buildings to make space for new ones. However, no buildings have been demolished thus far and AU has obtained an exception to build a new one, Gates said.
If repeated this measure will lead to an increase in the total floor area ratio, or the amount of space the university's property is allowed to cover, and greater density of population in the neighborhood, Gates said.
"Don't your students want any green space?" Gates said.
The Commissioner also said he laments the fact that erecting new buildings requires cutting down 50-year-old trees in the area.
However, Abud said AU is well below its floor area ratio cap and therefore is in compliance with the Campus Plan approved in 2001.
The renovated McKinley building will be the new home of the School of Communication, and will include 3,152 square feet of new floor space, a TV studio and 200-seat theater, according the SOC Web site.
