Experts say new dorms will hurt neighborhood

University: If dorms not built, students will have to live off-campus

BY SUE M. MORGAN Staff Writer

BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH — Houses for sale near Monmouth University take longer to sell, and when they do sell, they go for considerably less than homes elsewhere in the borough, according to a local real estate broker.

In short, potential home buyers are wary of buying residences in the vicinity of Larchwood, Pinewood and Beechwood Avenues, given the proximity of college-aged residents living in the neighborhood, Dot Schulte, a Realtor, told the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment last Thursday night.

“Homes [near the university] sit on the market a little longer. Their values are lower. The sale takes a while,” said Schulte, who operates her brokerage at Monmouth Road and Wall Street.

“It takes longer to sell homes near the university because of traffic and noise,” she added.

Schulte testified as an expert witness before the board as the hearing continued on the use variance application filed by the university to construct a 196-bed, three-story residence hall at the corner of Cedar and Pinewood avenues.

The university is also seeking use variances to expand a parking lot behind the proposed dormitory and four other adjacent residence halls by 153 spaces.

In addition, the same application calls for construction of six tennis courts, a 20-space parking lot and an adjacent retention basin on university-owned land at the former Kilkare Farm located between Beechwood and Hollywood avenues at Pinewood Avenue. A small barn on the site, which now holds rest rooms, would accommodate users of the tennis courts, plans show.

All of the sites proposed for building are in a residential R-22 zone.

The board did not issue a decision on the ongoing application, which will be continued at a later date. However, opponents of the university’s plan, mostly members of the West Long Branch Coalition of Neighbors, did get to bring their case to the board via Long Branch attorney Jim Siciliano.

The coalition, headed by Pinewood Avenue resident Joseph Hughes, was formed to fight the building plan. Hughes and his wife, Pamela, reside across from an existing retention basin that would be converted into the expanded parking lot under the university plan.

Hughes and coalition members have argued that the university’s new facilities, particularly the parking lot and tennis courts, will create noise and excess light around the clock and consequently negatively affect property values in their neighborhood.

Though the university once had little impact on residents’ lives, increased enrollment and resulting building additions have now adversely affected home values, particularly within recent years, Schulte testified.

“The university in the last five years is engrossing the town,” Schulte said. “It’s growing and growing and not getting any better.”

Schulte attributed the difficulty in selling homes near the college to newspaper articles that have disclosed details of the proposed application.

“The [newspaper] articles have had a negative impact on sellers,” Schulte said. “Because the articles are in the paper that the university wants to expand and that the enrollment is increasing, that definitely has had a negative impact on home values.”

Under cross-examination from the university’s legal counsel, Wendell A. Smith, Schulte stated that she has sold 15 homes in the neighborhood of Pinewood, Larchwood, Beechwood and Holly wood avenues within the past three years.

“It takes a little longer [to sell] and you get less money,” Schulte said of those sales.

The new retention basin and tennis

courts will compromise home values on Hollywood Avenue in particular, Schulte noted. The basin backs up to Hollywood Avenue, which the broker described as “one of the most beautiful streets.”

“I have nothing against the university,” Schulte said. “I object to [the basin near] Hollywood Avenue. It’s an encroachment. I object because the value of the property of my sellers [will decrease].”

During the testimony of Schulte and another witness, real estate appraiser Harry Ticehurst of Shrewsbury, about 30 proponents of the application, many of them university representatives, made audibly skeptical remarks about the witnesses’ statements.

On the opposite side of the room, Hughes and about 50 opponents sat appearing to hang on to every word Schulte and Ticehurst spoke.

Given the transient nature of students, homeowners should expect their property values to plummet if the proposed dormitory is constructed, Ticehurst testified under questioning by Siciliano.

“It’s not what you would expect in a zone like this,” Ticehurst said. “It detrimentally affects the value.”

Likewise, the parking lots and tennis courts would create an “intense use” that would have a negative impact on values due to the possibility of traffic, noise and lights at all hours of the day and night, Ticehurst stated.

“It’s similar to a commercial parking lot,” he said.

A site plan illustration submitted earlier by William Fitzgerald, an engineer with offices in the borough, shows that fencing and evergreen trees will be installed at the perimeter of the tennis courts and around the retention pond to create a buffer zone.

The new dormitory and expanded parking lot will also be buffered by numerous evergreens, plans show.

The new dormitory is essential to help relieve a housing shortage on campus, according to Patricia Swannack, vice president for administrative services.

The administration generally prefers to keep undergraduates in on-campus housing rather than have them residing in off-campus residences, Swannack said after the meeting.

Without a new residence hall, the student population will continue to spill into off-campus housing in West Long Branch and neighboring towns, she stressed.

“Even if we don’t build this residence hall, these students are here. They’re going to go somewhere else,” Swannack said.

Specifically, the college would like to move about 170 upperclassmen now living at the Esplanade Hotel on Route 36 to on-campus housing. The present contract with the Esplanade expires this coming spring, Swannack noted.

The new dormitory, which would be used to house incoming freshmen, would free space now taken up by the first-year undergraduates, she explained. The upperclassmen could then be moved from the Esplanade and other off-campus housing into existing residence halls and apartments on campus, she added.

Neither students nor the college benefit from the current arrangement with the Esplanade, according to Swannack. Some students housed there have left the university, discouraged with the lack of on-campus housing.

“The students at the Esplanade have a retention rate that is less than those that live on campus,” Swannack said.

The university has capped its full-time undergraduate enrollment at about 4,000 students, Swannack noted.

Schulte’s testimony that the college population is growing and the facilities are overwhelming the neighborhood is misleading, Swannack pointed out. A recent addition to the campus library was scaled back from 3,100 square feet to 1,900 square feet at the request of residential neighbors, she added.

“We will refute the real estate analysis presented tonight,” Swannack said.

The proposed, L-shaped dormitory would sit 50 feet back from Cedar and Pinewood avenues, Fitzgerald has said. If approvals are granted, the university hopes to break ground in May for occupancy later in September.

The new dormitory, which would be used to house incoming freshmen, would free space now taken up by the first-year undergraduates, she explained. The upperclassmen could then be moved from the Esplanade and other off-campus housing into existing residence halls and apartments on campus, she added.

Neither students nor the college benefit from the current arrangement with the Esplanade, according to Swannack. Some students housed there have left the university, discouraged with the lack of on-campus housing.

“The students at the Esplanade have a retention rate that is less than those that live on campus,” Swannack said.

The university has capped its full-time undergraduate enrollment at about 4,000 students, Swannack noted.

Schulte’s testimony that the college population is growing and the facilities are overwhelming the neighborhood is misleading, Swannack pointed out. A recent addition to the campus library was scaled back from 3,100 square feet to 1,900 square feet at the request of residential neighbors, she added.

“We will refute the real estate analysis presented tonight,” Swannack said.

The proposed, L-shaped dormitory would sit 50 feet back from Cedar and Pinewood avenues, Fitzgerald has said. If approvals are granted, the university hopes to break ground in May for occupancy later in September.