Lincoln aldermen approve special use permit for Lincoln College
College will establish student housing in former St. Clara’s Manor on Fifth Street

[December 20, 2017] 

LINCOLN

At the Monday night voting session of the Lincoln City Council aldermen approved a special use permit request from Lincoln College by a vote of 6-0-1; that's six yeses, zero no's with one abstain and one alderman absent.

The college was asking for the permit so as to convert the soon to be vacated St. Clara’s Manor on Fifth Street into upper classmen student housing. Lincoln College had filed the request and went before the Lincoln Planning Commission on Thursday, December 7th.

At that public hearing, LC President Dr. David Gerlach presented the case for expanding the college's housing opportunities. He said the college is continuing in its growth plan with additional four-year bachelor degrees with the hopes of having a student enrollment of 1,000 or more by the year 2021.

During the hearing, others had also addressed the commission, most of whom lent their support to the project.

During those initial discussions concerns had been brought up, especially concerning student parking around the property and traffic containment. The commission voted unanimously to make the recommendation to the city council to approve the permit with a few restrictions: for safety reasons traffic from Maple to Walnut become along Sixth Street become one-way going from east to west; also only one curb cut be made for commercial driveways on either Maple or Walnut, and not on Sixth Street at the back of the facility.

Read the full report: Lincoln Planning Commission unanimously recommends conversion of St. Clara's Manor to residential hall for Lincoln College

The next step in the approval process was for the recommendation to go before the city council at a committee of the whole meeting. That happened on Tuesday, December 12th.

At that meeting, Lincoln College President David Gerlach addressed the council, presenting the same narrative as he had given at the Planning Commission. Aldermen heard that the college is growing, thanks to the development of several four-year degrees. Gerlach said that enrollment over the last two years has increased by 21 percent. He anticipates and by the year 2020 the college enrollment will meet or exceed 1,000 students.

President Gerlach shared that in the past, Lincoln College was noted as the highest priced two-year private college, but with the four-year program well underway the college now ranks as the lowest priced four-year college among private colleges.

Gerlach said that at the Planning Commission meeting, public safety had been addressed. After that meeting he said he spoke with one of the commissioners who had done his own research on criminal activity at the college. Gerlach was told that from January 1, 2017 to December 7th, [city-wide] the city of Lincoln had recorded 13,875 incidents, and of those, only 154 calls were to the grounds of Lincoln College.

Gerlach said another concern was the enrollment. He said that since the commission meeting, an article had been posted on Facebook that he found to be very racist, and an outright affront to the college and its students. He had been very disturbed by the comments. Gerlach said that in response to that post, to the number of students coming in from “Chicago,” only 25 percent of the enrollment is from that geographic area. He said 25 percent of the enrollment is from Logan County and the other 50 percent is from a wide variety of locations.

Gerlach said that the intent of the off-campus housing is to have it occupied by upper classmen, juniors and seniors in the four-year program. However, he said that to start, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee that would be the case. But it will be the goal for the long-term.

At the Committee of the Whole, there were only a few questions from the council. Steve Parrott asked about the current parking space and was it sufficient. Gerlach said statistically, 36 percent of students have a vehicle. There are currently 45 parking spaces at the facility, and the occupancy for the building is expected to be 65 to 80 students, illustrating that the current parking should be sufficient.

Ron Keller noted that the St. Clara’s facility was already zoned as R-2, so why did there need to be a new Special Use permit?

Building and Safety Officer Wes Woodhull said it was because there is going to be a change of ownership of the building.

Rick Hoefle asked if there would be food service at the building. Gerlach said that the goal is still to keep the students on campus so they can socialize and get the full college experience. He said his vision was to offer a continental style breakfast at the facility, then the students would have lunch and possibly dinner at the Student Center on campus. He said the college would have to see how well that works out.

Gerlach also mentioned that the college had been running in the red in past years, but the expansion of the baccalaureate program was making the school more profitable. He said that profitability depended on growth of the college.

Gerlach took advantage of some good natured banter between himself and Aldermen Ron Keller, who is a professor at the college, regarding future employment to drive home one important fact. He jokingly told Keller that his future depended on the expansion of the college. He added that seriously, the college must grow to survive, and developing St. Clara’s into student housing was going to be a vital part of that growth.

At the council's voting session this week there were few comments about the request. Kathy Horn, who represents Ward 2 where the facility is located said she had been very much in support of the college moving into St. Clara’s, and had been very impressed with Gerlach’s workshop presentation.

Horn said after the city meeting last Tuesday, she had heard from some constituents who had concerns about their property values falling because of the student housing. Concerns had been expressed about the behavior of the students. She added that some had suggested that the college impose a curfew, but she knew that really wasn’t possible because the students would be legal adults.

Gerlach was present on Monday evening, and Horn asked him what the college would do to curb unacceptable behavior.

Gerlach said the off-campus facility would be subject to the same rules as the campus. He added, “We take action on misconduct with a firm and fast hand.”

President Gerlach concluded that the goal is to build positive relationships within the community, and the college will take steps to help make that happen.

Horn said that while she had listened carefully to her constituents, she believed that the student housing project was of great value, so she would still be voting for it. She also noted that by the time the St. Clara’s building is ready for student occupancy, the new city police station will be open and located only a few blocks away, making for better police access and law enforcement throughout her ward.

When the motion to approve had been made at the start of the discussion, Michelle Bauer noted that she still has a working relationship with the college, so to avoid a conflict of interest, she would be abstaining from the vote. However, she also said she did support the request.

When the roll call vote was taken, Browne, Hoefle, Hoinacki, Horn, Parrott, and Welch all voted “yes.” Bauer abstained and Keller was absent for the night.

[Nila Smith]