Scripps Ranch neighbors are frustrated after learning that a planned housing complex initially approved by the city council as school dorms is listed on multiple apartment rental sites.
Representatives of Campus of Life’s Ascent housing project at the Chabad Hebrew Academy maintain that the building is, in fact, going to be a dormitory, despite listings on several apartment rental websites advertising units as “luxury apartments.”
“We hired an experienced marketing firm to ensure our enrollment success,” Craig Saloner, a member of Campus of Life’s management team, said. “The marketing strategy is to develop this relatively new concept through multiple markets.”
Scripps Ranch residents are worried they were misled when the project was first approved, and they let city officials know about it at Thursday’s community Planning Board meeting.
Construction of the project is still underway, but neighbors are worried that the academy will allow non-students to move in, which they claim will bring along traffic and congestion they wouldn’t see if it were restricted to students.
The Dean of Campus of Life said that residents of the complex must be enrolled in at least 8 credits per semester to live there.
“If they're not going to take the classes are you going to basically expel them and have them leave the dorms?” Planning Board member Marc Sorensen asked.
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To that question, Saloner replied, “We’ll write the question down and get back to you on that.”
The Planning Board said that if the school allows residents to live in these dorms without taking any classes, it could face up to $6 million in fines.
