Opinion ID: 1924704
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Revised Condition 2 and Averaging

Text: In Georgetown I, we concluded that the Board did not provide a justification for maintaining the University's full-time enrollment cap of 5,627, which was the level set in the 1990 Campus Plan, instead of allowing the enrollment cap to increase to 6,016 upon the completion of the Southwest Quadrangle. 837 A.2d at 74-76. We noted that there was minimal support in the record for the finding that the modest enrollment increase initially authorized but subsequently disapproved by the Board would have contributed to or exacerbated objectionable conditions in the adjoining neighborhoods. Id. at 74. Thus, we held that the Board had to make detailed factual findings that would justify the cap of full-time student enrollment at the level set in the 1990 Campus Plan, and that the Board would have to describe how continuing the 1990 cap would protect the residents of the neighboring communities. Id. at 75. In light of our remand order in Georgetown I, and after consideration of the original record as it existed in 2001, [2] the Board concluded that the increase of the University's enrollment cap to 6,016, which was calculated as an average over the fall and spring semesters of the academic year, would not become objectionable to neighboring property or have an adverse impact on the neighboring property. In reaching its determination, the Board relied on several factors, including evidence that the completion of the Southwest Quadrangle project would create housing for 84 percent of the traditional undergraduate population, and that the University had implemented new measures and enhanced existing programs to prevent and mitigate the impacts of any off-campus student misconduct in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus. The CAG now takes issue with the Board's determination to increase the enrollment cap, but more vehemently challenges the Board's decision to set a student enrollment cap based on an average of the University's full-time undergraduate enrollment for the fall and spring semesters. According to the CAG, the increase in the enrollment cap along with the approval of the University's averaging methodology, allows the University to almost double the number of undergraduate students enrolled in the fall semester. In essence, by permitting averaging, the University can increase its undergraduate student enrollment in the fall semester based on a lower enrollment in the spring semester, without exceeding its enrollment cap. Our review is limited to determining whether there is substantial evidence in the record to support the Board's findings of fact and whether the Board's conclusions of law flow rationally from those facts. Foggy Bottom Ass'n, supra, 639 A.2d at 584-85. Thus, we will defer to the Board's factual determinations. George Washington Univ., supra, 831 A.2d at 931. In this case, our review of the record reveals that the University presented substantial evidence regarding how it calculated its full-time student enrollment and how averaging the fall and spring enrollment figures is part of that calculation. During the June 13, 2000 Public Hearings on the Campus Plan, the University offered testimony that it calculated its total full-time undergraduate population by backing out non-traditional students, part-time students, and non-degree candidates, and then averaging the full-time undergraduate population, taking into account the difference in the number of traditional full-time students who are enrolled in the fall, but do not return for the spring semester. During the October 2000 public hearing, the University also made part of the record a chart which indicated that it used an averaging methodology to calculate its student enrollment figures. [3] Subsequently on October 6, 2000, in response to the Board's request for clarification of its enrollment figures, the University submitted a letter and attached a chart discussing how it used averaging to calculate its full-time traditional undergraduate figure. The chart also set forth the rationale behind the University's use of averaging to determine student enrollment: The Fall enrollment number of traditional full-time undergraduate students is 5480. This compares with last year's Fall enrollment number of 5744. Fall and Spring enrollment are averaged to reflect the academic year. Historically, Spring numbers range from 6-10% less than Fall numbers due to students studying abroad, mid-year graduation, withdrawals, etc. When the projected Spring numbers are averaged with the Fall number, the projection is 5603, which is less than the projection of 5677 previously included in Appendix E to the plan. (Emphasis added). Given the substantial evidence in the record regarding the revised cap and the use of averaging as a methodology for calculating student enrollment caps, we see no basis to disturb the BZA's decision in this regard. Alternatively, the CAG contends that the Board's decision to permit the University to average its fall and spring enrollment figures to determine an appropriate enrollment cap is arbitrary and capricious and thus, must be overturned. In essence, the CAG complains that the type of enrollment cap included in the Revised Campus Plan is not a true enrollment cap because it does not set a finite limit on the number of students that the University can enroll at any one time. While that is certainly another way of defining an enrollment cap, we are not persuaded that the enrollment cap imposed here does not flow rationally from the evidence presented or is otherwise unlawful. As we understand it, the main purpose of including an enrollment cap on the number of students a college or university can enroll as part of a campus plan is to limit the adverse impact the student population will have on the surrounding community. While we certainly appreciate why some limitation on enrollment has to be set, we see no reason why those limits have to be accomplished through the use of a hard cap based on a snapshot in time. In this case, the University explained clearly why it favored the setting of a cap based on the fluctuation it experiences in its seasonal enrollment figures. The Board also heard evidence from the CAG and the ANC about the impact that the University's average number of traditional full-time students would have on the community and decided that the impacts were not likely to become objectionable or adversely affect the use of the neighboring property. In other words, the Board concluded that while there may be some difference in the enrollment numbers in the fall and spring, the differences between a hard enrollment cap and the blended enrollment cap advocated by the University would not have an adverse impact on the surrounding community. Because the Board's decision in this regard seems neither arbitrary nor capricious, and rationally flow[s] from findings of fact supported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole, we see no basis to disturb the Board's ruling. See Watergate West, supra, at 765. Finally, the CAG contends that despite its findings to the contrary, the Board failed to consider how the increase in the enrollment cap would affect the surrounding community. The Board's findings of fact, however, indicate otherwise. With respect to the effects of averaging on the community, the Board found that [The University's] proposal to increase its enrollment cap on the number of traditional undergraduate students, calculated as an average over the Fall and Spring semesters of the academic year, is not likely to become objectionable to the neighboring property or to adversely affect the use of neighboring property. After completion of the new Southwest Quadrangle project, the University will have more than 5,000 beds on campus, a number sufficient to house 84 percent of the traditional undergraduate population. The University has implemented new measures and enhanced existing programs that will help to prevent and mitigate the impacts of any student misconduct off-campus in the neighborhood abutting the campus. (Emphasis added). Thus, the record indicates that the Board considered how the increase in the enrollment cap would affect the neighboring property. Additionally, the Board's findings also reflect that it gave great weight to the ANC's requirement that the University maintain 85% of its undergraduate student population on-campus after completion of the Southwest Quadrangle project. See Foggy Bottom Ass'n v. Dist. of Columbia Bd. of Zoning Adjustment, 791 A.2d 64, 76-77 (D.C.2002) (`Great weight' implies explicit reference to each ANC issue and concern as such, as well as specific findings and conclusions with respect to each.); 11 DMCR 3115.2 (2003) (The Board shall give `great weight' to the written report of the ANC [.]). Specifically, the ANC conditioned its approval of the proposed [C]ampus [P]lan on the University's recognition and BZA's support that measures be taken to strengthen the off-campus affairs program. [4] The Board's consideration of the ANC's requirements is also reflected in its order on remand noting that it gave great weight to the ANC. As a result, we are satisfied that the Board's decision responded to and accorded great weight to ANC's concerns. See Foggy Bottom Ass'n, supra, 791 A.2d at 77 (concluding that the Board gave great weight to the ANC by addressing the issues and concerns raised by the ANC with respect to the impact that a proposed hospital would have on the ANC's constituents). Finally, because there is evidence in the record to support the Board's findings and the Board's conclusions flow rationally from those factual findings, we hold that the Board did not err in approving Revised Condition 2 of the Campus Plan. [5]