St. Ambrose expansion changing neighborhoods

Font Size:

By Tom Saul | Sunday, August 17, 2008 8:35 AM CDT | () comments

This former residential area at the intersection of Gaines and Lombard streets will be a parking lot for St. Ambrose University. Even with this lot, St. Ambrose won't meet its parking needs, university officials say. (Larry Fisher/quad-city times Buy this Photo

Related Media

St. Ambrose Expansion

The huge mounds of dirt and gravel, the gleaming silver, over-sized drain pipes and the busy construction equipment mustered adjacent to her home in the 2100 block of Brown Street came as something of a surprise, Fern Palmer said.

St. Ambrose is building a parking lot at the north end of the block between Gaines and Brown streets fronting on Lombard Street where, a short time ago, homes owned by the university stood. The construction, along with St. Ambrose’s recent purchase of homes on the west side of the 2000 block of Brown, are the buzz of the neighborhood.

“This isn’t what I envisioned from what they told me,” said Palmer, whose home will practically be engulfed by the new paved lot.the campus offered a mixed bag of dread and delight about St. Ambrose’s designs on the three square city blocks to its west. It already owns 17 homes in the area, has built two parking lots on parcels it owns and has approached many of the remaining owners about buying their homes.

Jack Wampfler, who painted wooden trim on his neat brick home in the 700 block of Lombard across from the construction one afternoon last week, said that, initially, he also questioned the thrust of the university campus toward his neighborhood. He has since come to regard it as good for the university and for him.

“As the inner city moves north, you need something stabilizing in the neighborhood,” Wampfler said. “The university also needs more parking.”

Interviews with a dozen homeowners west of

Expansion of the campus has raised murmurs of discontent in recent years, with the demolition of houses along Harrison Street, the closing of Ripley Street through the campus and, earlier this month, plans to knock down a building at the corner of Locust and Marquette streets to make way for parking.

Neighbors react

In June, Betzy McLeland and her husband sold two rental houses in the 2000 block of Brown to St. Ambrose, she said. The couple is in the rental business and decided it was a “convenient” time to sell when university officials approached them with an offer.

Joyce Ross, who lives in the 1900 block of Gaines across the street from the campus, would be only too happy to sell out, provided the university offered a better price, she said. The last time university officials made an offer three months ago, the two parties were about $30,000 apart.

“My husband and I are old and want a smaller home, but what they offered was not enough to find something else in a descent neighborhood,” said Ross, adding that she is unconcerned about the westward expansion of St. Ambrose.

But Wayne Reed, who lives in the 2100 block of Brown, stood on his front porch and looked across the street at the expanse of asphalt between Brown and Gaines on High Street that materialized about four years ago as part of a fix for parking problems caused by the students who throng to St. Ambrose during the day.

Far from a fix, Reed said, parked cars still clog the street in front of his house. During the winter, he sees what it does to the ability of city plows to clean snow and ice from his street, and he wonders whether emergency fire or medical vehicles will be able to get through if he needs them.

Instead of moving deeper into the neighborhood of mostly single-family homes along tree-lined streets, Reed said, he wonders why the university doesn’t look south across Locust Street to the stock of duplexes and rundown houses for future expansion.

“That’s a bad area anyway,” Reed said. “If they tore some of those places down, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”

University growing

For an institution hemmed in to the east and south by major traffic arteries and to the north and west by residential neighborhoods, the most convenient prospect for future expansion is to the west, said James Loftus, the university’s vice president for enrollment management and student services.

A continuing shortage of parking spaces has resulted in the building of more surface lots to the west, Loftus said. Even when the new lot off Lombard is finished, the university expects to be about 100 parking spots short of its needs.

“We’re exploring the idea of reaching agreements with nearby churches and other institutions to allow our students to park in their lots when they’re not using them,” Loftus said.

Construction of a new residence and classroom building at the corner of Gaines and Lombard also marks the first time St. Ambrose has erected a new building on the west side of the campus in decades, Loftus said.

For physical expansion of the campus, Loftus said, the idea of putting up taller buildings was studied and discarded. It runs up against city codes that limit the height of structures to five stories. The idea of building multi-story ramps to concentrate parking was also thrown out as unworkable

Loftus acknowledged that, if St. Ambrose expands its campus, it probably will be to the west. It has been trying to pick up properties west of the university when they become available. It also periodically contacts homeowners in the area to see if they have any interest in selling.

But, Loftus said, St. Ambrose officials have also tried to take a proactive stance in communicating with neighbors and city elected representatives about plans for building and expansion. It recent years, the university has invited surrounding property owners to meetings to discuss plans and let them offer feedback.

To stave off having to erect more brick and mortar outside of the university’s traditionally 12-square-block core, it is looking at ways to expand that require no construction, Loftus said. Some of those include increasing the availability of online courses and offering classes at the facilities of area employers.

“Growth of the university and attraction of scholars is good for the community and its economy,” Loftus said. “But we also know that we need to be responsive to our neighbors. The university has tried to be a responsible community partner and neighbor.”

‘Campus town’

From Davenport’s standpoint, the best direction for the campus to grow is to the southeast, into the city’s Hilltop section, said Matt Flynn, a senior planner. A study of the Brady-Harrison-Welcome Way corridor completed for the city in April envisions creation of a “campus town” between St. Ambrose and Palmer College of Chiropractic.

“St. Ambrose University, as a traditional, four-year university, produces a potential demand for retail and other commercial services oriented to a resident campus community,” the report by RDG Planning & Design of Des Moines said. “Housing for university staff, students and other potential residents attracted to life near a campus represents another opportunity for redevelopment of underused or deteriorating properties immediately surrounding the campus.”

Another study under way for the Locust corridor is expected to suggest similar directions for future expansion of St. Ambrose, Flynn said. Heavy traffic on Harrison and Locust, however, presents problems for movement of pedestrians to and from the campus. Those could be alleviated by redesigning the streets to slow traffic and make travel less hazardous for pedestrians, he said.

Neighborhood friction

On the other hand, expansion to the west into what is now a stable residential neighborhood can create difficulties for homeowners, Flynn said. Many of them said they agree, with some offering their own horror stories of living near university-owned houses that serve as homes for students.

Palmer lives next door to a university-owned house occupied by students, she said. Behind her home, St. Ambrose tried to get the city to close the alley that led to her garage and a parking lot has lights shining into her house. But it was the partying at the house that finally prompted her to call the police.

“Last winter, I reached my limit,” Palmer said. “There were about 200 people there. At one point, I looked out my windows and counted seven guys peeing in the yard. One of them was peeing right up against my house. I knocked out the window, and he looked up at me. The look on his face was like, ‘No one’s going to do anything about it.’”

In talks with university officials, Palmer said she was asked if St. Ambrose was trying to pressure her into moving.

“I told them no, but you’re sure making it uncomfortable for me to live here,” she said.

William Baker, who lives in the 2000 block of Gaines, said noise, trash and students cutting through his yard to get to parties at houses farther west are a regular part of the school year. He has lived in his house for 45 years and has been approached by the university about his interest in selling.

“I know the university tries to control them, but there are too many of them,” Baker said. “I try to make a deal with some of them. If they cut my grass or shovel the snow, they can cut through.”

St. Ambrose tries to reach out to its neighbors on a regular basis to hear their concerns, answer questions and talk to them, said Tim Phillips, dean of students. Growth and change make some uncomfortable and can create worries about the future of neighborhoods.

This year, the university will engage in strategic planning, Loftus said. High on the list of things to be examined will be a look at what the ideal size of the university should be. The needs of students will play a major role in that discussion, but so will the resources available to foster growth and the concerns of neighbors.

“We want to be in and of the community and not be insensitive to the impact of our growth,” he said.

Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com.

10 new buildings since 1990

St. Ambrose University will hold a neighborhood meeting and open house Monday to talk with those who live around the campus about efforts to manage growth and other matters. University President Sister Joan Lescinski and other members of the administrative staff will be on hand. The meeting will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. at the new residence and classroom building at the southeast corner of Lombard and Gaines streets.

Of the 20 major buildings that St. Ambrose University lists on its 12-square-block campus, 10 of them have been built since 1990. Most of the construction has occurred on the east side of the campus, with six of the projects including new student housing. The construction of a new building at the corner of West Lombard and Gaines streets marks a shift to the west side of the campus. In recent years, the university has also built two parking lots off Gaines and a third is under construction. The following are structures built on the campus since 1990:

1990 - Strub Town House, Andrews Town House, Sudbrook Town House, Schneider Town House (student housing).

1996 - St. Ambrose University Library (library and computer facilities).

1996 - Tiedemann Hall (student housing).

1997 - University Book Store and coffee house.

1999 - Conference and Continuing Studies Center (professional and educational development offices).

2000 - Hagen Hall (student housing).

2004 - Rogalski Center (student services and activity offices, food court, ballroom).

2004 - Bechtel Hall (student housing).

2005 - Franklin Hall (student housing).

2008 - As yet unnamed building at West Lombard and Gaines streets (student housing, classrooms).

Source: St. Ambrose University

Enrollment grows steadily

The total enrollment at St. Ambrose University has grown steadily over the past five years, but fewer than 40 percent of its students live on campus. Many never report to campus at all. Instead, they attend classes at satellite facilities or at their places of employment.

                 Total                      Residential

Year         enrollment           students

2003          3,447                       1,127

2004          3,534                       1,273

2005          3,623                       1,379

2006          3,780                       1,419

2007          3,870                       1,407

Source: St. Ambrose University

Perennial parking problem

Parking is a perennial problem for St. Ambrose University and its surrounding neighbors. University officials say one space is needed for every 1.4 students who attend classes on campus. By the end of October, the university expects to be about 100 spaces short of what it needs. It is trying to work out agreements with nearby churches and other institutions to allow student parking in their lots during the school day. The following are figures showing growth rates in parking spaces and student population at St. Ambrose.

- The number of off-street parking spaces will grow from 720 in 2003 to 1,220 by the end of October, for an increase of 69.4 percent.

- The number of students attending classes on campus and off grew from 3,447 in 2003 to 3,870 in 2007, an increase of 12.3 percent.

Source: St. Ambrose University