After an unsuccessful appeal of a cease-and-desist zoning order, Quinnipiac University has sued its hometown of Hamden, according to state court records.
In its June complaint, the university alleges that Hamden’s Zoning Board of Appeals acted “illegally, arbitrarily and in abuse of the discretion vested in it by law as an administrative agency” when it voted in May to deny QU’s appeal of a zoning order claiming the school to be in violation of the original special permit that authorized the construction of dormitories at its York Hill campus.
The suit asks the court to uphold QU’s original appeal of the zoning order.
The special permit, issued in 2007, required the school to guarantee four years of dormitory housing for all full-time undergraduate students.
Hamden’s zoning officer issued the violation in February, after noticing that the school’s total enrollment in the recent academic year exceeded available beds by more than 1,300 students.
QU argues that it continues to guarantee student housing, but said some students’ desire to commute or live off campus has meant that 271 beds were vacant as of November. QU says it’s not required to mandate that all students live on campus, and noted that the number of overall beds and ratio of students living on campus has increased over the year.
Hamden and Quinnipiac have been at odds for some time over a proliferation of off-campus student housing. House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, a Hamden Democrat, has taken the town’s side, pushing through legislation late last month that will levy a tax on certain school-owned housing located off campus.
