Miami enrollment fuels student housing

But plans to add more units have met with resistance.

— As Miami University’s OXFORD enrollment has continued to increase, so has occupancy in off-campus rental housing. However, the city has so far turned back the latest attempt to bring a student housing complex into the community.

Since 2006, Miami’s undergraduate enrollment has increased from 14,111 to 15,281, going up every year except two, according to the university’s official enrollment figures. Similarly, according to the city, the number of rental permits issued in Oxford has gone up from 4,032 in 2006 to 4,443 last year, increasing every year except one.

But city officials and some residents have not always been receptive to student housing. Indianabased developer Trinitas tried twice last year to build a new student housing complex on the south side of town, off of Southpointe Parkway.

First, the planning commission rejected a 249unit, 869-bed version of the complex. Before it could go to City Council, Trinitas shrank the development to 853 beds, but still met resistance from the planning commission. City Council reviewed a revised version with 650 beds. But that, too, faced resistance, with Vice Mayor Kate Rousmaniere saying the developers’ intent to modify the plan “sounds a bit like a threat.”

Trinitas then withdrew its application before council could vote on it. Finally, the company approached the planning commission this month with still another version of the project, this time as a subdivision with 85 residential lots. After a technical discussion lasting more than three hours, commission voted 5-2 against the project. It is set to go before council April 7 for a first reading.

At the same planning commission meeting where the last Trinitas discussion took place, resident Gayle Brown summed up the central dilemma facing the city.

“Part of the charm and identity of Oxford is that it is a college town. But being a college town means that there are some unique characteristics to the city, including a high percentage of rental properties. That’s just the nature of the beast,” she said.