Vestal Residents Battling Student Housing Project

Some people who live in an east Vestal neighborhood are battling a plan to add hundreds of units to a student apartment complex.

The owners of Hayes Student Living want to expand the existing development to include a total of 409 apartments. Two buildings on Country Club Road and Plaza Drive currently have 185 units.

The Vestal Zoning Board of Appeals has scheduled a public meeting for next Thursday evening to consider a request to authorize the project.

The meeting will be held in the Clayton Avenue Elementary School auditorium at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Lisa Mansback Berk, who has lived for 27 years in the neighborhood near the apartment complex, said more than 300 signatures have been collected on petitions opposing the expansion.

The project developers are seeking permission to exceed the allowable height of a structure and to reduce the required living area of an apartment. They also want to put in fewer parking spaces than required and to make the parking spaces smaller than stipulated in town regulations.

Developer Jeffrey Feinberg was out of his office on Friday and unavailable to comment on the project.

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