Final vote expected June 29
Jun 26, 2009 - 09:13 AM
By Jillian Follert
OSHAWA -- A new Trent University campus in Oshawa is one step closer to reality.
At a special meeting on Thursday, council's development services committee approved an official plan amendment to allow a university campus on a portion of the former Civic Auditorium site and former St. Michael Catholic School site. Councillors also voted to offer Trent a 75-year option to lease the Civic lands, at a cost of $1 per year.
Council still has to give the green light; it will debate the issue at its final meeting before the summer recess on June 29.
"This will be a wonderful addition to Oshawa," said committee chairwoman Councillor Louise Parkes. "Having choice for liberal arts education in the region is beyond our wildest wishes."
Trent is proposing to spend up to $22 million building a new satellite campus in Oshawa, on two pieces of property -- the northern portion of the Civic Auditorium site on Thornton Road and the former St. Michael's Catholic School site on Vancouver Court.
Trent's main campus is in Peterborough, but the school has had a satellite campus at Durham College for decades.
About 40 residents turned out for a public meeting on June 3, and most were against the Trent proposal, citing concerns about student housing and increased traffic and on-street parking on nearby residential streets.
Councillors are taking proactive steps on the student housing front.
On Thursday, the development services committee directed the City's municipal law enforcement and licensing staff to prepare a report for the fall, that looks at extending the City's rental licensing bylaw, in place near Durham College and UOIT, to the neighbourhoods surrounding the new Trent campus.
There is concern, however, that the bylaw in question has been largely unsuccessful in mitigating a student housing crisis in north Oshawa.
A new staff report also notes that lodging houses are illegal in residential areas, like those near the proposed Trent site, and says a recent court ruling will make it easier for by-law officers to enforce those rules.
Don O'Leary, Trent's vice president of administration, recently tried to allay concerns about student rental housing, saying the Trent student profile is not the average -- most students are older, have already been to post-secondary school and already live in the area.
As for traffic and parking, the staff report says the lease between Trent and the City should provide for a shared parking between the campus and the Civic to free up more spaces, and recommends that paid parking not be permitted on the campus, so there is no incentive to park on neighbouring streets.
The report also notes that City and Regional transportation and planning staff have reviewed the proposal and "consider the existing transportation system adequate to accommodate the proposed campus development."
If approved, the new Trent campus would be at full occupancy by 2015 with an estimated 2,000 students and 190 staff.
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