Plans to build a controversial apartment complex aimed at Ball State students was officially approved by the Metropolitan Board of Zoning and Appeals on Thursday.
The $15 million complex will house 216 apartments on the north side of the city, along McGalliard Road.
Campus Crest Communities, the company that gained approval to build the apartments, plans to build a 'buffer zone' between the student apartments and the already existing Layne Crest neighborhood. Residents of the area who oppose the construction project said the new complex would create and increase in traffic and drainage issues.
Scott Shockley of DeFur Voran LLP is the attorney representing the company and said Campus Crest is complying with zoning regulations, and is being in tune with concerns of Layne Crest residents.
"From the start the project had been designed to be as sensitive to the reasonable concerns of the neighbors as possible," Shockley said.
Shockley said the company plans on using landscape buffers, a six-foot-metal fence and lighting that projects down instead of sideways.
The project is estimated to create $300,000 in tax revenue for the city, but Shockley said the project would create approximately $212,000 in payroll for employees of the project.
Campus Crest is hoping to give many, if not all, of the available contracting jobs to local companies, said Shockley.
Critics of the complex believe building such a large housing unit will create the opportunity for more blight and empty properties around the city.
With university enrollment growing at about 300 students per year, Shockley said the apartments would not take away from the already existing properties near campus.
"It's been my experience that unless a house is terribly run down, all of those houses that are in proximity to campus, kids will want to rent them, for obvious reasons," he said.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
