QU, Hamden Explore How To Get Along Better

Stronger zoning ordinances. A 24-hour community-concerns hotline. Lessons on how to pack your backpack.

Quinnipiac University raised those current and future ideas before the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday evening in a talk that many hope will lay the groundwork for town-gown collaboration.

Vice President and Chief of Staff Bethany Zemba, and a few other members of Quinnipiac’s faculty and administration, visited the Hcommission just to talk, in broad sweeps, about town-gown relations.

Quinnipiac and Hamden, both parties acknowledged, have not always been on the best of terms. Both town and university officials said they want to change that. 

The Planning and Zoning Commission frequently interacts with the university since it must approve many of the university’s land-use applications. The week before Tuesday’s meeting, it had rejected an application to use the new president’s house property for university events after hearing from residents concerned about university expansion and a lack of transparency.

The tone Tuesday evening differed starkly from the tone of the previous week’s meeting. To begin with, there was no application on the table. The only item on the agenda, aside from an executive session to follow, was a ​“commission discussion with Bethany Zemba … regarding Town/Gown issues.” Unlike in many cases in the past, most of the commissioners who spoke said they were very pleased with what the university had presented.

Quinnipiac’s expansion has caused a considerable amount of frustration among Hamden residents. Many refer to how the university constructed the York Hill Campus on a ridge west of Whitney Avenue about ten years ago. You used to be able to see a tree-lined ridge when you drive into town from the Route 40 Connector, they say. Now you see lights and buildings.

Students living off-campus have also created a headache for both Hamden officials and residents in the last few years. As the university expanded, more and more students began living in the quiet neighborhoods around the university. Many property owners in the Mount Carmel and West Woods neighborhoods now rent houses to students, much to the chagrin of neighbors. Residents complain about parties that keep them up at night, and about students not taking good care of houses in the neighborhood.

“At so many houses,” said West Woods Civic Association leader Cindy Civitello, ​“five cars, six cars, eight cars are parked up on lawns.” The town’s zoning ordinances allow only four students per off-campus residence, but as the cars on lawns show, many landlords and students appear to break that rule.

After Tuesday’s meeting, many town officials said they were hopeful that the town and the university can work together and address their problems.

“We have never had anything like this before. I just think this is a wonderful start,” said Commissioner Robert Roscow. ​“In my 31 years, no one has ever spoken to us in a comprehensive manner.”

Off-Campus Housing

This fall, Zemba walked around the Mount Carmel neighborhood delivering Moon Rocks cookies to the neighbors of off-campus student houses and listened their concerns.

“That was eye-opening,” she told the commission.

Town Planner Dan Kops said he is encouraged by the steps the university has taken to address resident and town concerns about off-campus students. The university used to respond to those concerns, he said, by saying that ​“what happened off-campus, it’s not a university problem.” Now, he said, the university appears to be taking responsibility for what its students do off-campus.

As Chief of Public Safety Eddie Rodriguez explained Tuesday, the university now has a 24-hour community concerns hotline that residents can call and report any problems they have with students. That number has been around for a few years, but it used to go to an answering machine. Now, he said, someone will pick up the phone at all hours because it goes directly to Quinnipiac’s public safety dispatch. Calls are confidential. When a complaint comes in, Rodriguez said, someone from his department or from the Hamden Police Department will investigate.

“I think that’s actually a huge step in curtailing most of the problems we’re facing,” said Commissioner Michele Matropetre.

The hotline number is 203 – 582-3770. Residents can also email [email protected].

Rodriguez said that a member of his force, along with a Hamden officer, visited 40 off-campus student houses over the course of the last few weeks to let students know about the university’s good neighbor policy, which holds hosts responsible for any incidents that happen at off-campus events.

The university and town officials have also established the QU/Hamden Off-Campus Housing Taskforce, which includes members of town government, university administrators, Leslie Balch of the Quinnipiac Valley Health District, and a landlord representative. It has met once. Zemba said she is committed to making it continue.

In her presentation to the commission, Zemba included a brief case-study of her hometown: Narragansett, Rhode Island. Narragansett is home to one of the University of Rhode Island’s campuses.

Relations between the town and the university used to be strained, she said. Then the university and the town began to work together, she said, and the situation has greatly improved. The university, she said, is clear with students about its expectations for their off-campus behavior. It now works closely with the police department to enforce ordinances. Landlords have created their own association, which collaborates with the university and with the police department.

When the university and the town began to collaborate, she said, they determined that changing certain zoning ordinances would help the town, and in turn, the university, crack down on bad off-campus-student behavior.

Kops told the Independent that he and the university are beginning to explore how Hamden’s zoning ordinances could be changed to help the town and the university discipline students for behavior that disturbs their neighbors.

Zemba said that the university also plans to establish a website with information about university-community relations.

Backpack Packing

Zemba also tried to highlight the positive work the university does in Hamden.

“We know that we have students that are disruptive, and we want to work on that, but we also want to celebrate the students who are doing great things,” she said.

The university will hold a Halloween event on Saturday for residents. Boomer’s Boo Bash will involve food trucks, bounce houses, trick-or-treating, and games. To complement the ensemble of family activities, there will also be free document shredding and electronic recycling.

A few members of the university’s faculty also presented on how they partner with organizations in the town.

Professor of Occupational Therapy Tracy Van Oss described how she brings students to Hamden schools and other organizations to work with members of the community.

Her students recently went to an elementary school to teach students about how to pack their backpacks in a way that won’t damage their backs, for example.

Professor of Political Science Sean Duffy described the work he did with the Hamden Hunger Taskforce, and Professor of Nursing Sheila Molony described her students’ work with Hamden seniors.

Amy Walker, who teaches journalism, has created the Hamden Hunger Project with her students, which tries to find innovative ways of both writing about hunger in Hamden and connecting residents to resources. Walker did not present at Tuesday’s meeting, but Duffy mentioned her work. (The Independent has partnered with Walker on this project).

Tuesday’s meeting was just the beginning of a wide-ranging discussion that many said they hope will continue.

“It was a positive step,” said Kops. ​“I’m encouraged that the administration is open to a dialogue and we’ll continue to work with them.”