Ron Lumbra calls it a “symbiotic relationship.”
The chair of the University of Vermont Board of Trustees was speaking about the current dynamic between UVM and the Burlington city government in an interview on Feb. 27.
But while he thinks the partnership is healthy, he also said, “I do think it’s important to distinguish between what’s going on politically and what’s going on in actuality.”
What’s going on politically is a stalemate. On Feb. 21, the Burlington City Council tabled a zoning proposal in a 9-1 vote that would have allowed higher, denser developments at the site of the former Trinity College, which UVM purchased in 2002.
In holding off on rezoning, the City Council cited UVM’s role in the city’s housing crunch through growing enrollment.
“The council’s been clear for over a year that we would need to see some action from UVM to try to be a better neighbor,” said Councilor Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1. “And I think some of the egos at the university have said absolutely not.”
Hightower and others on the council are looking for UVM to provide a commitment to not grow its student population. In response, UVM officials said the university has no plan to grow its undergraduate student population.
City councilors and Mayor Miro Weinberger also want a new memorandum of understanding with UVM. The city and the university last had such an agreement from 2009 to 2019, in which UVM committed to keeping a 1-to-1 ratio of new undergraduate students and new beds. But in interviews, university officials made clear that, with or without the Trinity rezoning, a new agreement is off the table.
“I’m very reluctant to commit to anything that would hamstring the university in terms of how it has to govern itself and run itself in years to come,” Lumbra said.
In an emailed statement, Weinberger called UVM’s current position “untenable.”
“UVM’s current position on rezoning Trinity, which has been justified on grounds that the University doesn’t want to make any long-term agreements to the broader community, threatens to return us to a period of Town-Gown acrimony where nothing gets done,” Weinberger said. “All parties will be worse off if UVM leadership insists on continuing down this solitary path.”
In an interview in late February, Richard Cate, UVM’s vice president of finance and administration, detailed what the university hopes to build on the Trinity campus. If the zoning rules are changed, the university would plan for two buildings to start. One would be a “lower profile” building about 45 feet high with 100 new beds for students. Another project would build a “multi-winged structure” to house about 400 students.
Cate also said that “long range,” the university hopes to consider taller structures toward the back of the Trinity property in what’s known as the “back five” dormitory buildings that currently house about 200 students.
Cate also made clear that if the city of Burlington puts up roadblocks, that won’t stop the university from building elsewhere. It’s about to start a project to build housing with about 500 beds in South Burlington. The project, known as Catamount Run, would house primarily graduate students, faculty and staff.
“We’re looking at multiple options,” Cate said. “I can’t stipulate where they are. I do expect that within the next month or two, we’ll probably be hearing about at least one of them in more detail.”
Lumbra said the university’s building plans reflect that UVM is “doing our part” to address the housing crisis.
“This housing crisis affects us just like everyone else,” Lumbra said. “It’s a negative outcome. It hurts our ability to hire. It hurts our ability to assure our students and their families, especially upperclassmen, that they’ll have housing.”
A written statement from university spokesperson Enrique Corredera said the percentage of undergraduate students housed on campus was 57% for the fall 2022 term. By comparison, in fall 2009 the percentage was 54%, according to Corredera.
While Lumbra said he couldn’t “predict the future,” he did note that he thinks the university will be heading toward a “demographic cliff” that could negatively affect enrollment. He expects the graduation rate of high school seniors to drop “precipitously” over the next decade.
Lumbra cited that fear of demographic changes when denying the assertions that UVM is growing its enrollment.
“It is not the strategy of this board of the university to grow our undergrad student population, period, full stop,” Lumbra said.
But concerns about UVM enrollment persist and have made it all the way to the Statehouse.
State Rep. Troy Headrick, P/D-Burlington, introduced a bill in February that seeks to apply a cap on the university’s enrollment. H.311, assigned to the House Committee on Education, would apply the cap “until the rental vacancy rate in Burlington reaches five percent, as well as require a guarantee of 93 square feet of living space for on-campus residential students,” according to the bill.
The four co-sponsors on the bill are all from Burlington.
Headrick said he has “a few different vantage points here looking at this issue. One is a longtime resident of Burlington, a longtime employee of UVM, and now as a state rep who is introducing legislation that is quite literally biting the hand that feeds me.”
Headrick said he currently works as an assistant director for the Center for Student Conduct and formerly worked in residential life. One of the concerns he has about UVM’s approach to housing is the high number of “triples” for first-year students, where three students live in one dorm room.
UVM’s website says 30% of on-campus students can expect to live in a triple.
“Currently, to me, it looks like they are doing that on the backs of first- and second-year students who are shoved into cramped housing,” Headrick said.
Lumbra characterized the use of triples as a “temporary solution” that varies, based on how many students of an incoming freshman class actually show up.
Headrick said he also had conversations with constituents and city councilors and came away with a “very cohesive message” that UVM is “not going to come to those negotiations in good faith. They're essentially saying no, we're not going to guarantee any enrollment plan. We just want to build this new housing.”
The House Committee on Education currently has a lot of “high-profile” topics, according to Headrick, so he wasn’t sure that the proposed bill would advance this year. With the Legislature’s deadline for passing bills out of each chamber quickly approaching, the chances appear slim.
In response to the bill, Lumbra took issue with the prospect of a 5% rental vacancy rate, saying he thought it has been a very long time since the city achieved that.
“I do think when you look at these things, one has to look at the practical reality of what is the Burlington rental market? What exactly would it take in terms of units to achieve that? Is that realistic?” Lumbra said.
According to data from the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, Chittenden County’s rental vacancy rate was 2% in 2019 and since 1980 has not been higher than 4.4%, which was in 1990.
But Lumbra said there still is a strong relationship between the university and city.
“If you talk to people who actually do the work at the University of Vermont on our staff, you talk to people on staff in the city, it's a terrific relationship,” Lumbra said. He pointed to real examples such as the road reconstruction on University Place or the emergency response assistance provided by UVM police and rescue.
Weinberger agreed, saying in a statement, “For the last eleven years the University and the City have successfully collaborated on infrastructure, neighborhood quality of life issues, COVID-19, and more. This cooperative and productive period stands in stark contrasts to some prior decades and has greatly benefited UVM, the City, and the whole community.”
Hightower, who represents the ward that includes Trinity campus, said the issue at UVM is a cultural one.
“It's not neighbors versus UVM students. It's not neighbors versus UVM staff and faculty,” Hightower said. “It's like everybody's on the same page except for UVM leadership.”
Corrections: Earlier versions of this story misstated the type of agreement Burlington has had with UVM in the past and, due to an editing error, used an incorrect photo.