The Ann Arbor City Council approved an easement on Monday that will push forward the building of a private dormitory, which will be located at 1756 Broadway St., near Bursley and Baits Residence Halls and the North Campus Recreation Building.

The easement is a legal document that indicates the University’s agreement to allow a developer to construct a driveway from Murfin Court — which is University property — to the new apartment complex.

Without the easement, the occupants of the planned private dormitory would not only have no route to access the building, but also United Campus Housing — a national developing company — would be required to revise the building plans.

With the easement, traffic from the apartment complex will flow onto Murfin Court instead of onto Broadway Street, which is city property.

Despite the approval, the City Council meeting turned into a debate between University officials and United Campus Housing regarding the construction of the new dormitory.

James Kosteva, director of community relations for the University, said this is the first time the University has undertaken a task along these lines — allowing a private developer to obtain access to University property. However, the actual site where the apartment complex will be located is on private property.

In spite of the University’s decision to grant the easement, United Campus Housing may face one more obstacle. A condition for receiving the easement is that the development be an asset to the student population.

“We will allow the access as long as the complex remains 70-percent student occupancy,” Kosteva said.

But the University and United Campus Housing have jockeyed back and forth on the issue.

Kosteva said he worries that Melrose Suites will strain an already-loaded public transportation system.

Because the development will only be able to accommodate 242 parking spaces, this means that a large proportion of occupants will be left without parking spots and will have to rely on public transportation.

“We don’t want students to be automobile dependent,” Kosteva said.

During Monday’s City Council meeting, several members were disturbed by what they considered the University’s reluctance to grant the easement.

Many City Council members questioned why the University seemed hesitant to accept the plan when a private developer was offering to build additional student housing without any cost to the University.

The University cited several possible areas in which it could potentially incur financial responsibilities due to the development.

Kosteva said this development has the potential of adding $300,000 to the University’s annual operating costs, $800,000 to $900,000 to the implementation of additional bus services to accommodate students and a variety of other costs that could be felt by adding such a large concentration of additional students to North Campus.

City Council members also pointed out that the University has not built a new residence hall since 1968 and that this project was a burden that it should be shouldering, not the city.

Despite council complaints that the University has not built a new residence hall in almost 40 years, the University plans to convert part of the Frieze Building — which is the old Ann Arbor High School building — into a residence hall to be known as North Quad.

Yet several City Council members said that North Quad will not provide any additional opportunities for student housing.

The new residence hall will only re-locate students currently living in the residence halls, while the University does renovations on already-existing dormitories, Mayor John Hieftje said.

Kosteva assured that this relocation system would only be a temporary fix and that North Quad would actually provide the University with additional housing, although he could not give a specific time as to when this would occur.

“By not creating more residence halls as the University continues to grow over the years, the University is the greatest contributor to our affordable housing problem,” Hieftje said.

Despite the opposition to the plan, City Council approved the project by a vote of nine to two.

United Campus Housing was very excited and relived by the vote.

“Ann Arbor is a wonderful community, one of the top ranked in the U.S., and the U of M, one of the premier schools in the country.  Our company targets building premium living facilities in such communities,” Ambrose said.