AmigosNAZ staff report
FLAGSTAFF — Multiple meetings in early June raised as many questions as answers regarding a proposed student housing project on the site of the current Arrowhead Village Mobile Home Park in west Flagstaff.
Residents of the Plaza Vieja neighborhood questioned the need for new off-campus student housing projects in Flagstaff after outgoing Northern Arizona University President John Haeger said he expects growth at the NAU campus to dramatically slow over the next few years. Haeger made his comments during a joint Flagstaff City Council/Coconino County Board of Supervisors meeting on June 2, 2014 at Flagstaff City Hall.
The campus, which currently has 19,000 students, has been growing at a rate of 700 students per year during the past 10 years. That rate is expected to drop to 150 or so students per year in the future, he said.
The university is currently completing housing projects on campus that would accommodate 9,000 students.
Plaza Vieja residents and others have said there are nearly a half-dozen off-campus student housing projects proposed in Flagstaff and are also upset that the recently-approved Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030 does not address the issue of multiple off-campus student housing projects in the city.
Those same opponents of the student housing project at Arrowhead Village, were also upset when Haeger immediately left the meeting after his presentation before the public comment session was held.
Opponents had another opportunity to voice their displeasure with the project during a marathon six-hour, standing-room-only, meeting of the City of Flagstaff’s Planning and Zoning Commission on June 11.
The meeting was called to hear comments on a proposed zoning map change for the “The Standard” at Arrowhead Village.
The multi-story, 650-student housing project proposed by Landmark Properties of Georgia would create a mixed use student housing and retail development along Blackbird Roost Street and Route 66, but displace more than 100 residents in the 56-unit Arrowhead Village Mobile Home Park.
In the end, the commission agreed to continue the discussion on the request for rezoning to its next meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 25 at Flagstaff City Hall. The Flagstaff City Council will then hold a public hearing at 6 p.m., Tuesday, July 1 to discuss the issue.
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