New Residence Hall Approved for Monmouth University
West Long Branch Zoning Board of Adjustment approves building
Monmouth University has been given the OK to build a new residence hall on the north end of its campus.
The 3-story residence hall will be built on a previously approved parking lot near the school's library.
Monmouth University engineer and planner William Fitzgerald said the project will also include the construction of a new entrance to the campus at the corner of Norwood and Cedar avenues. Fitzgerald said the entrance has been approved by the county, which has jurisdiction over Cedar Avenue.
Another planner, Richard Preiss, said the building will be just more than 43 feet tall, and that it will not affect residents on Norwood Court, because the library will serve as a buffer.
Board members did express some concerns over the project’s impact on
parking by adding housing and decreasing the number of parking spaces.
At a previous meeting, Fitzgerald said 84 parking spots would be lost and 101 rooms would be added, bringing the total of spots on campus to 892 and the total of rooms to 879. He has said the ratio of spots to rooms was still higher than the demand, and that the school will never go below a minimum of 660 parking stalls for students.
Peter Koenig
9:12 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Unfortunately, MU continues to enroll more students than its facilities can properly accommodate, to the detriment of the surrounding single-family residential neighborhood.
Chip Stoll
10:13 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
I disagree. People complain when the off-campus students have a loud, late-night party, park five cars on the lawn, or any of a dozen other issues that occur with off-campus students, but we also complain when Monmouth U. tries to build additional dorms and bring those off-campus students back on campus. Enrollment has been consistent over the past seven or eight years - we cannot have it both ways.
Additionally, Monmouth students and their parents help the local economy, and the University has countless opportunities to attend cultural events, concerts, and sporting events with nationally-ranked teams. Unfortunately, I would venture to guess that not enough of the local residents take advantage of the opportunities that Monmouth provides us - most of them free, or with a nominal charge. I count myself in that group, too.
Peter Koenig
11:19 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Briefly: All of the MU students I have ever met personally have been nice young people, and MU is an asset to the community. It could be so much better, however. Enrollment has bloated over the past 25 years (my timeframe as a neighbor). We can have it both ways: added dorm space plus reduced undergrad enrollment - or strict limits on where undergrads can live off-campus + on-premises supervision for each such location. Even nice young people crowded into single-family homes degrade the neighborhood. And, as we both know, loud parties are far from the worst problem ... State v. Kaltner, 420 N.J. Super. 524 (App. Div. 2011).