IX. Town & Gown Element IX-1 Chapter IX. TOWN & GOWN ELEMENT CHAPTER 3 CONTENTS Chapter IX. TOWN & GOWN ELEMENT ........................................................................................................ 1 A. OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 2 B. JOINT CITY UNIVERSITY ADVISORY BOARD ........................................................................................ 3 C. INTERNATIONAL TOWN-GOWN ASSOCIATION .................................................................................. 5 D. CITY OF CLEMSON AND CLEMSON UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS ....................................................... 7 E. SUMMARY FINDINGS ........................................................................................................................ 10 F. ISSUES AND TRENDS .......................................................................................................................... 10 G. GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION...................................................... 12 Adopted December 15, 2014 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2024 | City of Clemson IX-2 IX. Town & Gown Element A. OVERVIEW Communities that have an institution of higher education are very special places. These communities, often referred to as “the town,” are presented with tremendous opportunities with the influx of young people each fall to begin or resume studies at colleges and universities, referred to as “the gown.” The community calendar explodes and energy flows with the beginning of each semester. Town residents enjoy the arts and athletic venues associated with colleges and universities. A buzz of excitement and energy surrounds this unique relationship. In fact, the allure of retiring in an environment of academic growth is a growing attraction to many baby boomers. A community’s personality can be intertwined so tightly with the local college that in some cases it is difficult to determine where the college and town lines separate. This is very apparent in Clemson where a first-time visitor would be hard-challenged to indicate on a map where the University ends and the City of Clemson begins. In addition to the benefits, towns that host institutions of higher learning tend to have unique challenges. An influx of college students in neighborhoods and downtown areas presents issues associated with alcohol use, noise, traffic, housing, and parking. Often these challenges can grow into conflict and special remediation techniques are required to alleviate stress in the relationships between students, local homeowners, city officials and higher education officials. Coordination is the ideal level of collaboration to strive for in the Town/Gown relationship. Coordination among students, university staff, permanent town residents, town leaders and local government needs to be ongoing and in-depth. This includes the sharing of information and resources and regular meaningful communication. Towns engaging in these practices are those most successful in minimizing conflicts such as student misbehavior, erosion of single-family neighborhoods and the effects of campus expansion and development on local infrastructures. Of equal importance is communication with neighboring colleges and universities (Tri-County Technical College and Southern Wesleyan University), whose students may also live in the town and aren’t familiar with the City of Clemson housing and rental standards. Communicating with other nearby postsecondary institutions can help remedy many concerns and is important in keeping open and positive interactions at the university level. Understanding the history and culture of the university, students, faculty and staff, as well as the city and its residents and staff, along with the physical aspects of the broader community the two comprise, are all important for an accurate analysis of the causes of conflict and to provide a basis for enduring solutions. Adopted December 15, 2014 City of Clemson | COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2024 IX. Town & Gown Element IX-3 MAP IX-1. CLEMSON CITY AND CLEMSON UNIVERSITY LANDS Source: City of Clemson Planning and Codes Administration, 2019 B. JOINT CITY UNIVERSITY ADVISORY BOARD Princeton Review named the Clemson University and the City of Clemson the #1 Town/Gown relationship in the country for 7 consecutive years. Then, in 2016 it dropped to #9, 2017 #5, 2018 #6, and back to number 1 in 2019. At the time of this update, the relationship between the City and University is strained. Clemson has historically had a strong Town/Gown committee that is called the Joint City University Advisory Board (JCUAB). The membership of this committee is made up of an equal number of City employees and key University representatives. Executive members of the University and the City serve along with police leadership, meeting monthly to proactively address issues that may arise. However, the purpose and efficacy of the JCUAB should be evaluated as changes in leadership and decreased engagement challenge the function of the board. Adopted December 15, 2014 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2024 | City of Clemson IX-4 IX. Town & Gown Element The JCUAB is an important programming agent that develops events to bring the City and University together and is designed to address significant issues. For example, the annual Clemson Regatta was held in Clemson for years and invited more than 300 members of the community to meet the NCAA women’s crew team and use the facilities to raise funds for local charities. This ended in 2018 when the University made other use of the land used for this event. Clemson University included the public input collaborative sessions related to the Douthit Hills project, which added 1600 bedrooms to the University but abuts a well-established Clemson neighborhood. These efforts ended with positive results for both parties. In 2017, a proposed Clemson University Steam Plant that was originally sited 100 feet from an old established neighborhood just off the Clemson Campus exposed a long simmering concern with the University disregarding the need to coordinate and communicate with the residents of the City of Clemson. Intervention by the local state legislative representatives and legal filings by the City of Clemson were required to have the facility sited to a more suitable location. In 2018, additional concerns regarding the siting of new electrical switchyards on the Clemson University campus added another challenge to strained relations and furthered the lack of open and transparent communications with City residents. Additional communications initiated by Duke Energy and Clemson University mitigated this issue. Nevertheless transparency and open communications might have served to mitigate the unnecessary conflict. The Clemson Area Transit (CAT) system is a successful joint venture between the University and the City and is an important asset to all members of the community. In recent years, the University withdrew funding to CAT, instead investing in a competing transit system designed to serve University students and employees solely. During football games the population of Clemson swells from 14,000 to 120,000, bringing substantial revenue into the community. There is a tremendous amount of coordination required between the City and University to make these game days safe and positive. The University and City share a fire and rescue service. Many members of the Clemson University faculty serve on boards, committees and commissions for the City, bringing their expertise to bear on civic matters. This relationship is likely the best of the joint services between the City and University. The City provides most of the mulch for the University grounds, which comes from recycled residential yard waste. This program,reduces yard waste and enhances campus beautification efforts. The JCUAB could perhaps be the most significant catalyst for fostering the Town and Gown relationship over the next decade. Many of the goals, objectives, and strategies proposed for the Comprehensive Plan already had a starting point in the JCUAB. In order for both the City and Adopted December 15, 2014 City of Clemson | COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2024 IX. Town & Gown Element IX-5 University to thrive, concerted efforts should be made to improve the relationship between the two. One significant outcome of the JCUAB was a Creative Inquiry project led by Jeff Martin (Director of the Madren Center at Clemson University) and Crossie Cox (Clemson City Council) along with a group of Park, Recreation, and Tourism Management (PRTM) students at Clemson. The results of this research (November 2013) provided tremendous support and direction to the development of the Town and Gown element of the Comprehensive Plan and, in addition to being excerpted in this report, “A Study of Town/Gown Relationships Enhancers/ Inhibitors for Success” can be found in the Planning and Codes Department in its entirety. FIGURE IX-1. CLEMSON 2012 REGATTA WINNERS Source: City of Clemson, 2014. C. INTERNATIONAL TOWN-GOWN ASSOCIATION In 2008 the Clemson Joint City-University Advisory Board, (JCUAB) officially formed the non-profit International Town-Gown Association. After two years of research, the JCUAB created this network of resources to assist civic leaders, university officials, faculty, neighborhood residents and students to collaborate on common services, programs, academic research and citizen issues. The ITGA’s initial focus was on sharing examples