Cacophony to Close A-Frames

Author: Megan O'Keefe

Atwater and Davis Halls, commonly called the A-frames, will be closed for student residential use before the start of the 2004-2005 academic year as part of an agreement between Middlebury College and the town of Middlebury aimed at reducing negative student impact on local residents. A Jan. 2002 Notice of Decision from the Middlebury Planning Commission, in reference to the Atwater Commons building project, prescribed, "Upon completion of construction of these new dorms, the existing Atwater and Davis students houses shall be changed to non-student housing uses (such as faculty or small department offices)."

"I heart A-Frames," said Emily Daviau '07.

While a number of factors influenced the decision to stop housing students in Atwater and Davis, noise complaints from area residents were the driving force behind the College-town agreement. Project Manager for the Atwater Commons construction Mark Gleason explained, "Atwater and Davis Halls are at the far northern periphery of campus and are immediately adjacent to one of Middlebury's larger neighborhoods - Gorham Lane. As such, social events at these dormitories have been problematic for neighborhood residents ever since the buildings were first built."

Atwater Commons Dean Scott Barnicle - who lived in the Gorham Lane neighborhood until about six months ago - has taken complaints from residents both at home and in his office. "They were predominantly in the warmer months when people had their windows open and students were outside more often, particularly late at night," Barnicle said. "A bad weekend may have had two to four complaints but, in general, they were less frequent. Nonetheless I am empathetic to the folks who lived so close the A-frames and kept significantly different hours than our students do," he continued.

Middlebury Police Chief Thomas Hanley told The Middlebury Campus, "Gorham Lane is not a big source of noise complaints for us." He cited one complaint of "kids playing football on the lawn at three in the morning," but assumed that many residents may contact the College directly. Hanley said that off-campus parties are the major concern of the Middlebury Police Department. This year senior houses on Court Street have been a particular focus of complaints along with concerns about drunk students walking down Rt. 125 towards Ridgeline late at night.

President John McCardell said, "I do know that our neighbors on Gorham Lane have for years complained about noise from the A-frames. They dropped their objection to the Atwater project when we promised to cease housing students in the A-frames once Atwater was completed." While McCardell is not aware of the number of complaints the College has received, he characterized student disturbances as "significant enough to make [the closure] a condition for the approval of the Atwater Project."

Middlebury Town Planner Fred Dunnington told The Middlebury Campus, "The town has never asked that Atwater and Davis be closed. This was an offer on their part as a gesture to the adjacent neighborhood."

While Chair of the Middlebury Planning Commission John Barstow acknowledges that noise from Atwater and Davis had come up in Planning Commission hearings, he said, "It wasn't a big topic. It was not in our findings that this had to be done." But when, according to Barstow, the College offered to close Atwater and Davis as student housing, the Planning Commission "was relieved." Barstow said, "It felt like mitigation in a way. We thought it was a good idea."



No decisions have been reached on the future use of Atwater and Davis. Gleason said, "The College is in the process of reviewing non-resident options for future use of Atwater and Davis Halls."