mobanmarketFAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield University is looking to build a 118-bed addition onto Faber Hall, one of the school’s dormitories, as the university continues to efforts to expand its enrollment to meet the financial and other challenges it faces.
The dorm, which is limited to sophomores, is located in the southern portion of the campus near the Quick Center for the Arts, and will be built into a slope adjacent to the current Faber Hall building.
Fairfield University is in the midst of a $225 million expansion master plan, under which it is looking to increase its undergraduate enrollment to 5,000, up from about 4,655.
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In recent years, the school has built the new Mahoney Arena, and made improvements to the Egan School of Nursing and the Dolan School of Business, among other renovations.
“We continue to seek enhancements to the student experience,” local attorney John Fallon said Tuesday, as he presented plans for the addition during a public hearing before the Town Plan and Zoning Commission.
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According to architect Jose Hernandez, a principal with New Haven-based Newman Architects, the proposed addition is a 32,000 square feet with three floors, and it will be about 8 feet higher than the existing building.
The building will mean losing 18 parking spaces in the adjacent lot, but because the dorm is restricted to sophomores, the loss will not have much of an impact, because sophomores are not permitted to have cars on campus. Additionally, the Quick Center can provide overflow parking on most days, except if there is an event.
“We’re not at all worried about parking,” Fallon said.
What was of concern to some residents who spoke at the hearing was the potential for drainage issues that the new building could cause, particularly along Barlow Road.
Fallon said the school is not “causing or exacerbating any flooding issues on campus.”
The school plans to add 7,500 cubic feet of stormwater storage through underground, concrete chambers.
“We are reducing peak flows,” said project engineer Brian Phillips.
The commission made no decision on the proposal Tuesday, and will take it up again at a future meeting.
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