On Jan. 15, Greensboro City Council voted seven-to-one to approve rezoning of a Dolly Madison Road property adjacent to Guilford’s campus.

The 3.4 acre property at the intersection of Foxwood and Dolly Madison roads is currently a wooded, single-family residential property. According to conditions brought by the developer, Randall Dixon, the property will be used for business and multi-family housing purposes only.

Rezoning of the property was brought before Greensboro’s zoning commission in November and was defeated in a five-to-four vote. However, an appeal was made by Dixon and the case was brought before city council.

“Rezoning is a function of government to ensure sound development and use of property,” said Faculty Secretary and Ombudsperson Janet Wright, who has served 12 years on Greensboro’s zoning commission. “Each piece of property has a specific use and when its use changes, it goes to zoning.”

Following the initial failure before the zoning commission, Dixon listed several conditions of the development in hopes of appeasing neighbors of the property, including Guilford College. Some stipulations included that the apartments would be no more that three stories, a maximum of 48 units will be built, of which only 36 would be apartments, and all vegetation between parking lots and buildings would remain untouched.

While the future apartments and business spaces will have repercussions for the entire Greensboro community, it will especially affect Guilford.

Henry Isaacson, legal representative of both Dixon and the property owner, John E. Hodgen Jr., said, “this development has been oriented toward the Guilford College campus.”

“Through the courtesy and cooperation of Guilford College, we have been allowed to connect to their private road, George White Road, as well as supply a walking and bike path to the campus,” Isaacson said.

The project has been oriented toward campus out of mere proximity. This Dolly Madison property lies directly behind Guilford’s football fields and is adjacent to campus.

“This project is actually closer to the library and many of our classroom buildings than our own student apartments we built a couple of years ago,” said Vic Cochran, vice chairman of Guilford’s Board of Trustees and chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee.

With such convenience and a new Campus Life proposal, which would not financially penalize students living off-campus, Guilford is collaborating with Dixon to make the apartments viable student housing.

In a letter to city council and Greensboro mayor Yvonne Johnson, President Kent Chabotar wrote, “Guilford College has a critical need for more student housing close to where our students live and learn, but we are simply not in a financial position to construct them ourselves.”

While Guilford’s board of trustees, buildings and grounds committee and president support the rezoning, others in the community are distressed by the decision.

Over 200 signatures were gathered on letters and petitions by neighbors of the property, members of the Sierra Club, and Guilford faculty, staff and students to stop development. Opposition to the development cites deforestation, urban sprawl, increased traffic, and destruction of residential areas as problems with the proposed expansion.

“(There’s) a whole assortment of issues at play,” said sophomore Alyzza Callahan. “We’re seeing the development of untouched land that has historic significance. What we have here is a prime example of developers, as well as school officials, seeing the importance of land by its monetary value.”Junior Marshall Jeffries supports the development despite the opposition.

“Guilford really needs more student housing,” Jeffries said. “Everyone made a big hubbub about the building of our New Apartments but now people fight to live there.” “Zoning impacts our schools, it impacts our neighborhoods, it impacts our streets, it impacts our fire and rescue, it impacts everything,” Wright said.

With the recent vote of approval from City Council and upcoming start of construction, the impact of Dolly Madison development upon Guilford and the surrounding area will be made clear.