Updated at 8:49 p.m.
BURLINGTON — Members of the University of Vermont administration and city officials presented a draft housing agreement to the City Council on Monday night. The agreement would commit the school to increasing on-campus housing if it enrolls more students.
The City Council heard an informational update on the proposal, which was unveiled by Mayor Miro Weinberger’s office on Monday. The agreement will be considered by the council at a later date.
The memorandum of understanding would require UVM to provide 1.5 beds per every undergraduate student enrolled above the Fall 2023 level, which was 11,614 students, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. In return, the city would pledge to work with UVM to change the zoning on three parcels where the school wants to build new housing. The sites are Trinity Campus, a parcel on 280 East Avenue, and the Waterman block on South Prospect Street. UVM could construct up to 1,500 beds across the three parcels, according to the release.
Councilors received an update on the draft agreement from Richard Cate, vice president of finance and development at UVM and members of the city’s community and economic development office.
Cate said the university is making its “best effort” to land the housing agreement and to give assurances that it won’t grow undergraduate enrollment without building sufficient housing.
But some city councilors expressed skepticism, saying that under the proposed agreement, UVM isn’t going far enough.
Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1, said she doubted that she would vote in favor of it and noted that the agreement, which would expire in October 2028, covers a shorter period of time than past ones between UVM and the city.
“It’s a lot to ask for long-term things when you’re only willing to give short-term things,” Hightower said, later adding that she felt like the only thing the city gets from the deal is “information.”
Councilor Tim Doherty, D-East District, said he wanted to see language in the agreement committing UVM to provide new housing specifically for juniors and seniors at the school, many of whom end up in apartments in Burlington’s tight housing market.
While Cate wouldn’t commit to putting that in writing, he told councilors that the “primary purpose” of the school’s proposed Burlington developments would be to house juniors and seniors.
“We are trying to pull them back as much as we can,” Cate said, adding that all three proposed developments would be built as apartments, not dormitories. UVM currently requires first- and second-year students to live in dorms on campus.
Ben Traverse, D-Ward 5, asked Cate whether UVM would be open to further changes in the proposed agreement.
“We have gone as far as we can on the material terms of the agreement,” Cate said. However, he did express some willingness to consider a suggestion from Councilor Melo Grant, P-Central District, that the new housing beds counted in the agreement would not include “forced triple” dormitory arrangements, where three on-campus students are crowded into a single unit.
UVM is currently planning two large housing projects outside of Burlington. Catamount Run, in the South Burlington city center area, will house graduate students and staff. Catamount Woods, near the Centennial Woods in South Burlington, will house 540 undergraduates.
Under current zoning laws in Burlington, UVM is restricted to three-story buildings — which can be a limitation as it considers new projects, according to Cate. The proposed agreement would allow for up to 80-foot buildings and denser lot coverage.
Bringing large student housing developments to Burlington could help to relieve some of the housing pressures contributed by growing enrollment at UVM, Weinberger said in a press release sent earlier on Monday.
“While construction always takes a long time and involves significant uncertainty, this agreement creates a clear path to reducing student housing pressures to the lowest point since the 90s and supports modest growth in enrollment for undergrads,” said Weinberger in the press release.
The agreement comes after years of debate between the city and UVM over the university’s rising enrollment, which city officials say has exacerbated Burlington’s ongoing housing crisis.
UVM and Burlington had a housing agreement in place from 2009 to 2019 in which the university committed to keeping a 1-to-1 ratio of new undergraduate students and new beds. But when that agreement lapsed, the university declined to sign a new one.
Meanwhile, UVM’s enrollment jumped higher, increasing by over 600 undergraduate students between 2019 and 2022.
In February, the City Council withheld permission for the university to build more housing on its Trinity campus, citing concerns that the new housing would only lead to increased enrollment without addressing current housing issues.
The new draft agreement, however, promises to allow the school to continue growing while proportionally increasing on-campus housing. The agreement would also commit the University to providing the city with annual reports on beds and trends in enrollment.
“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,” said Weinberger in the press release.
“UVM and Burlington are fortunate to be so attractive to a new generation of Vermonters,” said UVM President Suresh Garimella, in the release. “The university is glad to work with our partners in the City to make possible our envisioned expansion of on-campus housing.”
