Rollins seeks approval for new 300-bed dorm on campus
The project, which will be up to six stories, will provide more campus housing, potentially reducing the number of students renting in nearby neighborhoods
Jan. 5, 2023
By Beth Kassab
Rollins College will seek approval from the city on two key projects next week — a 300-bed dorm on campus and an off-campus housing complex for faculty and staff.
The new dormitory project, which will replace the 80-bed Holt Hall and a portion of the Tennis Center, will about 140,000-square feet and is intended to provide more opportunity for students to live on campus. Rollins will continue to have the same number of undergraduates.
The liberal arts college is “not growing,” Vice President of Communications Sam Stark told the Voice last month as the Planning & Zoning Board approved the project. Undergraduate enrollment will remain at about 2,200 with about 230 faculty and 500 staff.
The City Commission will consider the new residence hall on Wednesday with one recommended condition from staff: architectural improvements and landscaping to help camouflage a maintenance building visible from Fairbanks Avenue.
The project will also be taller than many buildings in Winter Park, though city staff is arguing that the slope of the land lessens that impact.
“The site slopes downward from Fairbanks Avenue to Lake Virginia,” reads a staff report. “The buildings closest to the street are 4-stories in height and, as the land slopes downward, that allows added floors to be added to the 5-6 story sections. The building height complies with the 55-foot height as measured from the wall height for the tallest 6-story portion of the two buildings on
the southern portion of the complex. The roof pitch desired adds 10 feet in height. The building could stay within the height limit if it was a flat roof, but they desire to maintain the same roof pitch and Mediterranean roof styling that is characteristic of the campus.”
On Tuesday, the day before the City Commission meeting, the Planning & Zoning Board will consider a second Rollins project: a three-story, 80,000-square-feet project with 48 units of faculty and staff housing.
The proposal for the corner of New England and Virginia Avenues is an attempt by the college to provide workforce housing close to campus. The project would also include a coffee shop and a book store.
Under provisions laid out in city documents, Rollins would agree to keep the units as “affordable/attainable” housing for faculty and staff for 30 years; be prohibited from using the units as student housing and would keep the property on the tax rolls.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
“300 bed.”
LOL
There you go again.
Try 139,000 sq ft.
Or roughly the same size as a Wal-mart super center.
If the Voice is going to use Rollins’ slick talk to describe the largest building project in Winter Park in a long time, the least you could do is disclose how much Rollins money goes to Voice board members and their families.
The Voice doesn’t say how long Rollins will “remain” 2,200 undergraduates.
Until this Fall 2024 maybe when the new students arrive?
Is the Voice that dumb that it thinks Rollins is building all the jumbo dormitories capable of housing thousands of students while calling them “300 bed,” and thinking Rollins has no plans to grow?
Or
Does the Voice simply take the email from Rollins telling the Voice what Rollins wants the residents to read, copies and pastes what Rollins dictates onto the blog, and puts a Voice byline on it, and clicks “Publish?”
Do you realize Rollins has not “remained” 2,200 but rather has GROWN to 2,200 students? Or didn’t Sam tell you to print that?
It’s “intended to provide more opportunity for students to live on campus.” So, do they actually think/know that more students actually want to live on campus? I’d question that. In my experience, juniors and seniors strongly prefer the greater freedom of living off campus. Sounds like a money grab to gain rental income instead of having it go to local landlords who rent to students.
City staff needs to remember that it is residents who pay staff salaries. Staff appear to be under the impression they work for Cornwall. And, planning and zoning and the commission need to learn how to say not so fast to Rollins. Is the Rollins campus a special zoning district such as the medical arts district or the OAO? Are there separate rules in place for Rollins? The Rollins campus has the potential to become a mini-Manhattan style island unto itself. There are implications for the city’s viewshed, character and skyline, also for parking and groundwater absorption problems when truly massive new buildings such as a 300 bed dorm of this size are approved. “We are not growing” is a blatant falsehood and city boards should proceed in a manner which does not reward same.
Is it true that Rollins does not pay taxes (i.e. property) to the City of Winter Park?
I agree with another comment that it does not make sense to build a huge dormitory, taking out 139,000 sq. ft. if no growth is expected. This is another shady project threatening the Winter Park small town status. Those who love and intend to stay in Winter Park should say “NO” to this effort.
Why would a student attend Rollins if the accommodations aren’t equal to or better than a competitor school? Do you book a hotel/rent an airbnb that is outdated, small and w/o any amenities? Why would a parent allow their kid to attend an inferior school? Students/parents these days are getting wowed by school facilities. It’s reality. Rollins has to compete.
And who cares if part of the building by the lakeshore exceeds the height limit by a few feet. Seriously?
Hmm Question: what do you say to the homeowner who wants to “exceed the height limit by a few feet on the lakeside”? Usually: No. Consistency in application of laws, rules, and regulations are what build trust between the government and its residents. This commission decision erodes that trust even more.
If the lot is sloping towards the lake, yes. The intent of height limits is to not harm a neighbor’s privacy, sunlight or dwarf neighboring properties. P and Z has 7 members, City Commission has 5-all voted for the project b/c the intent of the height ordinance was met. If a flat roof was required for the lakefront section, I’m sure Rollins would have complied. But what’s the point when most of the project has a pitched roof?
The massive home on Palmer Ave. is is essentially a 3 story home (not allowed by code) but due to the sloping lot it is within the height limits. Similar situation. Why have elections and citizen boards if every building had to meet every code? We could save a lot of time and money by having the city manager give thumbs up or down on every permit. I wouldn’t like that.
“The roof pitch desired adds 10 feet in height. The building could stay within the height limit if it was a flat roof, but they desire to maintain the same roof pitch and Mediterranean roof styling that is characteristic of the campus.” Well heck, the building could better stay within the height limit by eliminating 1 floor. It would look more in scale with the rest of the campus and city as well. Rollins also needs to agree to pay a fee for city services instead of taxes on this new building and the rest of the campus. It’s way past time that Rollins began paying for police, fire, road maintenance, and all the other costs our citizens pick up through our city taxes.
Rollins started its City Commission presentation Wednesday by going on and on about the recent passing of former Rollins president Rita Bornstein, apparently in an effort to win sympathy votes for the gargantuan dormitory project from Commissioners.
This was in very poor taste.
Rollins has in recent years gained a reputation as a low life neighbor to Winter Park residents, and it is stunts like this that only give residents more reason to question why every time Rollins wants to build something the City Commission rubber stamps approval on it with no questions asked.
When an application for approval does not stand on its own but has to be accompanied by psychological tricks such as “moment of silence” to manipulate Commissioners into just shutting up and voting “Yes” is really sick.
There are some major problems with Rollins and how it is being run.
And Wednesday was more proof that there is no limit to how low Rollins will stoop to get what it wants from the City.
As the Rollins train steams down hill, DeCiccio and the Winter Park City Commission shovel more coal into the engine to speed up the decline.
Sad.
The Winter Park City Commission apparently works for Rollins, not the residents.
And the tail wags the dog once again.
The decision to allow Rollins to build buildings that reach a height beyond what our city permits illustrates a willingness to s-t-r-e-t-c-h code rules depending on the identity of the applicant. It was necessary for staff to declare the existence of a massive slope of great pitch on the building site that would camouflage the height of some buildings when viewed from certain angles. Who can dispute this unless they hire experts and consultants? (David Copperfield may have been consulted by Rollins and staff in this case.) But the real forehead smacker is watching Rollins being allowed over and over again to add massive square footage in the city without providing the needed additional parking for that square footage.
No way are these 300 more prep school kids letting Mommy and Daddy send them all the way from New England to Florida without a way to drive to the beach every weekend. So where will they park all the cars? Rollins needs that library site to build another parking garage and their Alfond expansion parking.