Yale Cleared On Div Dorm Parking

Yale’s plans to build a new eco-friendly dormitory for divinity school students moved ahead, as alders unanimously signed off on a resolution stating that the project doesn’t require any amendment to the university’s central campus parking plan.

Local legislators took that vote Monday night during the latest regular meeting of the full Board of Alders, which was held in person in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

Alders voted unanimously in support of a resolution certifying that ​“no amendment to the Yale University Central/Science Campus Overall Parking Plan is required for the application for development permit/site plan review pertaining to the construction of graduate student housing and renovations to the existing building known as the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle on the Yale University Divinity School campus,” as the resolution’s title puts it.

What does all of that mean?

As the Independent first reported last week, the Yale Divinity School is looking to build a dormitory next to its main Prospect Street campus that would recycle its wastewater, generate all its own energy, and provide an on-campus place to live for its graduate students.

That proposed dormitory, dubbed a ​“Living Village,” would be constructed where a parking lot currently sits near Prospect, Division, and St. Ronan Streets.

The university still needs to go through the City Plan Commission-hosted site plan review process before it can start building this planned new dormitory. 

Monday night’s aldermanic vote, is one small but key step needed in order to make it to the next stage of municipal government review.

The now-approved resolution simply states that the proposed new Yale Divinity School dormitory won’t affect the current parking plan and agreement that the university currently has with the city for its central campus and science campus areas.

Click here to read the full text of the no-parking-amendment-required resolution. No alders spoke up for or against the resolution during Monday’s meeting. Instead, Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow moved the item for a ​“unanimous consent” vote of approval, and he and all of his colleagues voted in support.