UNIVERSITY-OF-VERMONT

Mayor Weinberger strikes tentative student housing deal with UVM President Garimella

Portrait of Dan D'Ambrosio Dan D'Ambrosio
Burlington Free Press

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and University of Vermont President Suresh Garimella appear to have reached a meeting of the minds when it comes to student housing − a perennially vexing problem in Burlington, where affordable housing for full-time residents is hard to come by and is only made harder by students living off-campus.

Weinberger said in a press release on Monday that he and Garimella have "overcome prior setbacks" and reached a housing agreement intended to create more beds for students, thereby reducing "student pressure" on the local housing market. The agreement, subject to approval by the Burlington City Council, is also said to support UVM's admission goals.

Trinity Campus shown on a snowy March 2, 2022. The Burlington City Council tabled a proposal to rezone the campus to accommodate more student housing due to concerns over increased enrollment and the effect on the city's housing supply. But now a new agreement between Mayor Miro Weinberger and UVM President Suresh Garimella would provide that rezoning, if approved by the City Council.

Weinberger and Garimella created a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, that commits the university to providing a minimum of an additional 1.5 beds for each undergraduate student it enrolls above the fall 2023 level of 11,614 students, which includes 2,896 first-year students.

For its part, the city will help UVM meet that commitment by amending the zoning for UVM's Trinity Campus on Colchester Avenue, its property at 280 East Ave., and the Waterman block on South Prospect Street to allow the university to construct as many as 1,500 new student beds.

New student housing is already underway in South Burlington

The 1,500 new student beds contemplated by the MOU between Weinberger and Garimella would be in addition to more than 600 beds for graduates, faculty and staff and nearly 550 beds for undergraduates already planned in South Burlington.

Artist's rendering of Catamount Woods, student housing being built by the University of Vermont and AAM 15 Management LLC, owner of the DoubleTree Hotel on Williston Avenue. The hotel is the building in the foreground and Catamount Woods is the beige building behind it.

In March, UVM and Snyder-Braverman Development Co. broke ground on Catamount Run in South Burlington, which will provide housing primarily for graduate and medical students, but also for faculty and staff who need interim housing. The project is expected to be completed by August 2025 at a total cost of about $110 million, according to Richard Cate, vice-president for finance and administration.

In addition, UVM is partnering with the owners of the DoubleTree Hotel on Williston Avenue in South Burlington to build undergraduate student housing adjacent to the hotel.

An artist's rendering of Catamount Run, the joint project between the University of Vermont and Snyder-Braverman Development Company to provide housing for UVM graduate and medical students.

UVM and AAM 15 Management LLC signed a letter of intent to build the estimated $100 million project near the southern edge of Centennial Woods, a natural area, on property the university already leases to AAM 15 for use as a parking lot. The new housing complex will be called Catamount Woods.

UVM promises to keep the city apprised of its efforts to provide more student housing

The agreement between Weinberger and Garimella also commits UVM to providing the city an annual report showing "the number of and basis for calculating its available beds and undergraduate students," on or before Oct. 31, every year for the five-year term of the MOU.

Weinberger plans to present the agreement with UVM to the City Council at Monday night's meeting, but won't seek approval for the agreement until early 2024. The city and UVM are planning to hold an "informational public meeting" about the agreement in January, at a date and time yet to be determined.

The University of Vermont's 27th president Suresh Garimella sits in the executive offices in the Waterman Building in Burlington, VT, July 1, 2019.

"After a year of discussions and hard work, we now have a plan to up-zone not one parcel, but three separate large UVM-owned lots for major on-campus student housing projects, as well as fresh commitments from the university to build new beds as undergraduate enrollment grows, and to improve transparency around their future goals and enrollment data," Weinberger said in a statement.

Burlington city councilors conveyed their frustration with UVM's lack of transparency concerning enrollment at the council's Feb. 21 meeting, by tabling a decision on UVM's Trinity Campus zoning proposal that would allow for more dorms to be built.

Of the 11 councilors present, 10 voted to table the proposal because of the university's refusal to commit to limit enrollment or be transparent about their future enrollment plans. Tabling a proposal means there is no timeline for the proposal to be presented again.

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.