Benedict College in Columbia lost its bid to use an old hotel as a dormitory after a Richland County Council vote Tuesday night. The building is seven miles from campus and county zoning rules require a dorm to be within a half-mile of campus. County council members were not willing to change the rule.
Benedict actually used the old hotel as a dorm last year, but the county fire marshal closed it because it didn't meet fire code. It had no sprinkler system and some of the fire hoses didn't work. The school had to move students to a local apartment complex.
Benedict says it fixed all the problems and had planned to use the building as a dorm permanently, but neighborhood opposition swayed county council members.
Council member Gwendolyn Davis Kennedy, who represents the area, says, "The school went about it the wrong way. They never discussed it with residents."
Tom Malone, whose backyard backs up to the would-be dorm, says he didn't like it when students were living there last year. "My biggest problem was with traffic and trash," he says, saying students came and went at all hours.
Linda Dove, who lives down the street from the building, says she's glad county council voted against allowing it to become a dorm permanently. "This is a retirement, more or less a retirement community around here. We did not want all the noise and all the young people," she says.
Despite losing the potential dorm, Benedict attorney Ernest Cromartie says, "Benedict College is committed to its students and any student who is enrolled or who wants to attend will be provided housing."
Councilwoman Kennedy says the opposition was not against Benedict itself, since some of the neighbors who were against the dorm are Benedict graduates, just like she is.
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