Neighbors react to Hodgin's Retreat
Jake Blumgart
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: Features
"I think it's going to be a problem," said Paul Zopf, retired Dana professor of sociology and resident of George White Road. "We love this place and until recently we have enjoyed living here, but things are changing in ways that produce a lot of anxiety for me."
The nature of the George White community began to shift with the beginning of the fall semester, when the housing-starved college moved five students into the neighborhood. Zopf now regularly finds beer cans littering his yard, keeping company with the trash left by Kaiser House party-goers. He expects such behavior to increase with the construction of Hodgin's Retreat.
"I don't think there is any malice in it, it is just what happens when people drink too much and are irresponsible," Zopf said. "(When) they moved students in next door they didn't ask us our opinion or tell us. The college didn't even tell us the re-zoning was taking place."
George White Road currently sees little more than foot traffic. The construction of a cut-through to the Hodgin's Retreat parking lot will increase the number of cars using the road. The college also plans to widen George White Road, which is narrow and pockmarked with pot holes, to accommodate emergency vehicles.
The cut-through road to George White is partially the developer's attempt to ease the pressure on Foxwood Drive, a secluded neighborhood overshadowed by the Guilford woods whose residents strongly oppose the development.
"These apartments will dramatically change the nature of the Foxwood Drive neighborhood," Zerbe said. "We aren't talking about putting three or four houses in there. This is an apartment complex with up to 150 people living there. 150 people with cars going up and down that street. This will seriously change, and I think, diminish the quality of life for those people."
Few Guilford students even know that Foxwood Drive exists, and because of that the community is able to remain relatively insular. There is very little traffic, which allows this quiet and tight-knit community to exist apart from the suburban sprawl that dominates the city.
The nature of the George White community began to shift with the beginning of the fall semester, when the housing-starved college moved five students into the neighborhood. Zopf now regularly finds beer cans littering his yard, keeping company with the trash left by Kaiser House party-goers. He expects such behavior to increase with the construction of Hodgin's Retreat.
"I don't think there is any malice in it, it is just what happens when people drink too much and are irresponsible," Zopf said. "(When) they moved students in next door they didn't ask us our opinion or tell us. The college didn't even tell us the re-zoning was taking place."
George White Road currently sees little more than foot traffic. The construction of a cut-through to the Hodgin's Retreat parking lot will increase the number of cars using the road. The college also plans to widen George White Road, which is narrow and pockmarked with pot holes, to accommodate emergency vehicles.
The cut-through road to George White is partially the developer's attempt to ease the pressure on Foxwood Drive, a secluded neighborhood overshadowed by the Guilford woods whose residents strongly oppose the development.
"These apartments will dramatically change the nature of the Foxwood Drive neighborhood," Zerbe said. "We aren't talking about putting three or four houses in there. This is an apartment complex with up to 150 people living there. 150 people with cars going up and down that street. This will seriously change, and I think, diminish the quality of life for those people."
Few Guilford students even know that Foxwood Drive exists, and because of that the community is able to remain relatively insular. There is very little traffic, which allows this quiet and tight-knit community to exist apart from the suburban sprawl that dominates the city.
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Neil Snyder
posted 3/21/08 @ 7:45 PM EST
As a 1989 of Guilford I would appreciate some graphics or links to a map to help me remember/understand where all of this will be happening. Thanks.
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