Student housing a neighbourhood headache
The planning committee approved the construction of a 14-storey student housing complex on First and Oxford Streets, which would house 500 students, directly across from the college. But the plans are worrying residents in the area who think that housing such a high volume of students together without the college overseeing them is a recipe for out of control parties and neighbourhood mischief.
“Anything that looks at trying to provide quality accommodations meant specifically for students is a good idea,” said Glen Matthews, Fanshawe's off-campus housing mediator. “Whether this particular proposal is right or wrong, I won't comment on it. I will say that it being right on Oxford Street would be part of our normal planning process.”
And while Fanshawe appears to like the plan as it's been described to this point, it's when it comes to local residents that you'll find some outspoken detractors, including some 71 residents who signed a petition against the plans.
“I'd rather they had it on campus,” said Campbell Milliken, a resident who, along with his wife and three-kids, lives near the proposed building site. “I would rather see Fanshawe expand a little, and put that kind of residence on college grounds.”
Milliken believes that the problem not only lies in the fact that students tend to be younger now, since high school's eliminated OAC, but also that it's when students are bunched together it creates ‘hot spots', like on Fleming.
“It's the easiest way for the city to come up with a solution for a problem that doesn't have a solution,” said Travis Mazereeuw, Fanshawe's Student Union President. “The city is just trying to make everybody happy, and clearly that isn't going to happen considering nobody in the area wanted [the building] to happen.”
“One concern for the apartment if it is built is that even with security there may be a lot of partying,” Mazereeuw continued. “Security or no security, and it would be interesting to see if security would do anything at all other than lock the doors. Will there be repercussions being in the halls drinking?”
Milliken also worried that the increased number of students in one area will put a lot of strain on the local police who will be required to answer what he believes will be an increased amount of calls in the area.
“It's going to put a lot of pressure on the community around it, that's what I think is going to be the big problem,” continued Milliken. “They keep talking about the 7/24 security, and sure, that's security going in. But what about security going out? The majority of the kids, there's no problem. There have been parties on my street where I've walked up and said ‘you're being kind of loud' and they apologized and toned it down.
“But then you have that one or two per cent who can be a problem. I've come out one morning so far this year to broken beer bottles in the street, and I have one neighbour who they tore his cable box off the wall and threw beer bottles on his lawn.”
