In South Orange the residents refuse to acknowledge that even though they know it’s true!
University Center
- Thread starter Halldan1
- Start date
Didn’t the school try to buy the Marylawn property but the town blocked it?
Also I think the mayor of SO is Sheena Collum, an SHU alumnus and former SGA president. As bad as the town-gown relationship is, this is actually improved from the past, now being merely “pretty bad” instead of “completely toxic” like it was for decades, which is pathetic.
If the 30% coverage rule is true, and I’m surprised we’re not way past that threshold already, then it makes growing the school literally impossible, especially since the town won’t allow any construction over 5 stories (with exceptions for Jubilee and Xavier at 6 and 7 respectively only because of building shape and hills I believe).
That area where the practice facility would go is already fully paved over, but given recent flooding I understand the storm runoff concerns to a point.
I still say the only feasible plan for long term growth for the school is a merger/purchase with Caldwell or St Elizabeth when those schools likely go kaput in the next 10-15 years. Academia overall is going to be in serious pain and enrollment declines in the coming years because there’s just not enough kids to go around. Small private schools like the ones above will start going under.
Hope we have some endowment cash stashed away to make such a purchase when the time comes, SHU’s future success depends on it.
Also I think the mayor of SO is Sheena Collum, an SHU alumnus and former SGA president. As bad as the town-gown relationship is, this is actually improved from the past, now being merely “pretty bad” instead of “completely toxic” like it was for decades, which is pathetic.
If the 30% coverage rule is true, and I’m surprised we’re not way past that threshold already, then it makes growing the school literally impossible, especially since the town won’t allow any construction over 5 stories (with exceptions for Jubilee and Xavier at 6 and 7 respectively only because of building shape and hills I believe).
That area where the practice facility would go is already fully paved over, but given recent flooding I understand the storm runoff concerns to a point.
I still say the only feasible plan for long term growth for the school is a merger/purchase with Caldwell or St Elizabeth when those schools likely go kaput in the next 10-15 years. Academia overall is going to be in serious pain and enrollment declines in the coming years because there’s just not enough kids to go around. Small private schools like the ones above will start going under.
Hope we have some endowment cash stashed away to make such a purchase when the time comes, SHU’s future success depends on it.
My son graduated from Clemson and same thing. They are routinely voted in the top 5 of best town/gown relations in the Princeton review. It's refreshing. SHU's problem is the school is landlocked and South Orange is crowded. But SO does not seem to appreciate how much business SHU brings to the town and taxes too. SHU pays taxes for a lot of their off campus housing where they could opt not to because they want to keep the relationship good with the town. No one wants anything in their backyard anymore even if it existed long before they moved there.
This is not a excuse but a possibility. Although she is the mayor if the council is not on board with the mayor on any policy things like this harder to get done.
Supposed to be open/completed for the Tree Lighting from what I heard yesterday.
Yes, the school tried to buy Marylawn when it closed but the township blocked it due “traffic concerns”.
The 30% surface area limit is accurate. Also, the “5 story limit” is not accurate. The town put in a new zoning law prohibiting the building of anything taller than 30 ft for structures bordering south orange Ave - this specifically applies to the residence hall complex (Serra, Cabrini). If not for this they would just build up on those dorms and fix the housing crisis.
For the other buildings there is a formula for height limit - it’s something like 30ft + 1.5 ft for every foot set back from the property line up to a max of what the library height is (don’t quote me on this last part but it’s something like that).
if you ever wanted to research the zoning laws of south orange it’s just a series of catch 22’s that make it nearly impossible to do much of anything (i.e. you can’t renovate existing dorms because of 30 ft height limit, so you need to build new dorms but can’t do that because of 30% lot coverage limit, then the cherry on top is the town won’t allow purchasing of new land like Marylawn).
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Bottom line, there are two sets of rules, one set for Seton Hall and one set for everyone else. The university needs to tell the town to shut up and hold back on the pilots until changes are made.
Bottom line is this: the university has a land problem and the town wouldn’t allow them to buy marylawn when it closed. What does that tell you? The school will never be able to expand. If you think otherwise you’re dreaming.
The irony is Marylawn was eventually purchased by state schools who don’t have to follow the towns zoning rules. If the town let seton hall buy it they would have at least had some control over what they do.
The irony is Marylawn was eventually purchased by state schools who don’t have to follow the towns zoning rules. If the town let seton hall buy it they would have at least had some control over what they do.
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