Oberlin city council’s rejection of the Johnson house dormitory proposal last Monday is the most blatant demonstration of the growing tensions between the College and the town.

Local objections to the plan centered mainly around the destruction of natural space, the effect on the local housing market and the violation of Charles Martin Hall’s will.

However, the prevailing sentiment among town residents is that the College’s attitude towards the town played a large role in the plan’s rejection.

“The College doesn’t plan, they just go in and expect to get whatever they want,” city council member Frances Baumann, who voted for the construction proposal, said.

“What got people upset was the arrogant way in which the school went about doing this,” local resident and community activist Stephen A. Douglass said. “They just came in and said, ‘This is what’s going to happen,’ without consulting anyone from town.”

To those whose concerns focused on the destruction of open space and the issues related to Hall’s will it often seemed that their concerns were not taken seriously by the College.

“Whenever we mention anything about the will it comes down to Andy Evans and Sal Falardi saying, ‘We’re doing everything legal,’” said Douglass. “This actually comes down to what’s the moral, ethical thing to do. That land is more important than any building.”

Local landlords also felt their input was not solicited in the housing decisions that aim to move hundreds of students currently living in town housing to on-campus facilities.

“The College hasn’t gotten together with landlords and asked how this would effect them,” Don Soltis, an Oberlin alumnus who has owned property in town for 35 years said.

“If students can vote and dictate policies, then why can’t they live off-campus?” he added.

Much of the tension between the town and College relates to the College’s exemption from paying property taxes, a subject of debate in the town for more than a century. Many residents feel that the College has not fulfilled its obligations as the largest property owner in town, especially in the recent economic hardship.

“The College needs to be much more aware of the effect it has when they buy up town property and take it off the tax rolls,” Baumann said.

The Johnson House debacle has also reignited the issue of parking space, which has been a town-gown conflict for years.

“It used to be that the only students who could own cars were those with demonstrated need,” College alum and town resident Judith Appleton said. “Now there’s no regulation at all. Students have cars that they drive three blocks to get to class and a lot of merchants and townspeople are very upset about that. This is a community where feet and bicycles should be the order of the day.”

As for the College, senior administrators have mixed feelings about the state of the town-gown relationship. President Nancy Dye feels that the relationship is still healthy but that occasional disagreement is unavoidable.

“It’s hard for Oberlin to accept this,” she said recently. “But there are significant differences between the interests of the College and the town and there always will be.”

However, others see the Johnson House setback as a symptom of a much larger problem.

“It seems a lot more confrontational now than it did in the past,” one College employee said. “Part of the problem is that the College hasn’t built new housing in about 40 years and it’s a much different process now than it was then.”

“There were definitely extraneous issues brought up at the College [housing] forums,” the employee added.

The recent city council elections also highlighted town-gown issues as current and former school employees, as well as one student, ran on promises to build bridges between the two communities. Others promised a more assertive role for the town leadership.

Many feel the College is not paying its dues as a tax-exempt corporation.

“The College donated some computers to the high school a few years ago,” said Douglass. “But what the schools need now more than anything else is money to pay the bills. The College’s tax-free status has put the town in a terrible situation.”

Baumann suggested that the College could “begin working with the city to come up with something in lieu of property taxes or at least say that newly developed housing won’t be tax exempt.”

In the coming year the College will once again have to try and sell its development plan to the town.

Baumann stressed that “the College must be more sensitive to the neighborhoods they will be affecting.”

Douglass felt that any concessions would be too little too late.

“We will do anything we can to stop any development on that property,” he said.