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Wilmore OKs amended seminary housing plan

June 22, 2011|By Laura Butler | lbutler@jessaminejournal.com

The Wilmore City Council approved an amended development plan for the second phase of a housing project at Asbury Theological Seminary during its Monday night meeting. The plan allows the seminary to move forward with building up to five dormitory-style buildings on the northern part of its campus.

The construction should take about three years, seminary vice president of finance and administration Bryan Blankenship told the council. The new buildings would be erected along Epworth Avenue and near Morrison Street and East College Street.

The seminary originally requested to build family-style housing in its first development plan but changed the plan to accommodate more single students at the end of 2010. The Jessamine County-City of Wilmore Joint Planning Commission approved the amended plan for the new style of housing in late March. Getting approval from the Wilmore City Council was the next and final step in the approval process.

The council hosted a public forum to talk about the amended development plan and solicit feedback from the community. Numerous community members were there to offer their opinions on the project.
A few voiced concerns that the new buildings would increase traffic flow in the area, especially since the new housing will be geared toward singles who in theory have their own cars. If all five buildings are constructed and at full capacity, approximately 230 people could live there, Blankenship said.

“We’re concerned about the extra 230-some people driving up and down Pleasantview and Morrison,” Wilmore resident Hugh Sims said during the public-comment portion of the meeting. “We have a big concern with children and the traffic flow.”

But Blankenship said the seminary’s development plan is more of a replacement than an expansion. The new plan will include fewer living units between all the residence halls than the seminary had at its peak six or seven years ago, Blankenship said. More than 100 living units were in the space previously in the form of 44 duplexes and almost 70 apartment units, so the traffic pattern would remain relatively similar, he added.

Wilmore Utilities and Public Works director Dave Carlstedt said the residents in the area would probably notice some increase in traffic, but he believes the area is designed to absorb it fairly well.

“You cannot deny there’s going to be a heavier population, but the seminary has also been very intentional ... to create a pedestrian community and will heavily ask people to consider walking,” he said. “You can’t say there’s no possibility there might be additional traffic, especially on rainy days or at 7 a.m. when they’re trying to get their kids to school. On the other hand, this street is the same size as every other street in the community that handles large volumes of traffic. Morrison Street is only a couple feet narrower than College Street, and it handles every single car that comes in from Jessamine Village.”

The council voted to approve the amended development plan four votes to one, with councilman Jim Brumfield making the motion and councilman Lynn Cooper seconding it. Councilwoman Kim Deyer cast the dissenting vote, and councilman Jeff James was absent from the meeting.

The council also enacted an ordinance allowing for the closing of several streets near the seminary’s construction site, including Broadhurst Drive, Gaile Morris Court, and portions of Epworth Drive and East Morrison Street. The closures will coincide with the construction work, but no specific dates have been written in the ordinance, city clerk Colleen Brandenburg said.

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