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HEIDI TOTH - Daily Herald

For rent. That's the most popular advertisement in Provo, it seems, with the signs cropping up everywhere -- on homes, on duplexes, on major apartment complexes.

Yet the buildings just keep coming. Joaquin Elementary School came down two months ago to make room for high-density student housing. The Reams turtle was demolished in February and work began almost immediately on the Alpine Village. Student housing just radiates out from Brigham Young University.

But those for-rent signs just stick around. Sure, they move around some to various complexes and buildings, but the number never seems to decrease in a city that's more than half filled with rentals.

The newest developer entering the market is Steve Maddox, who wants to build 120 units on just more than six acres. His proposal would raze the old Meridian School on 300 North and 900 East and build Meridian Housing. The question of a zone change comes before the Planning Commission next week.

On the one hand, Maddox has reason to be worried, because the Provo Municipal Council, whenever more high-density housing comes up, asks why the city needs more. But on the other hand, said Municipal Council Chairman George Stewart, they're deferring to the housing market to regulate how much housing is needed. The properties going up still are being filled.

"Now where it's located is not a market decision," he said.

Maddox made the argument to Foothills Neighborhood residents Thursday night that Meridian provides an ideal location for student housing.

It's right by a bus stop, most of the additional traffic will feed onto 900 East and it's close to retail and other amenities. The three and a half story structure will be buffered by 100 feet of green space all around, which turns into just more than an acre that can become a city park.

No concerns were raised by neighbors at the meeting, most of whom seemed pleased by Maddox's commitment to make Meridian a positive development. He wanted to make sure that happened for his sake as much as theirs.

"When you have this much to rent out, you cannot let it become dilapidated," because students make their rental decisions based on friends' and relatives' experiences, he said.

But the question of where to put the thousands of students attending BYU and Utah Valley State College and living in Provo is more complicated than neighborhood agreement, and there's more to it than how the number of rooms compares to the number of students, said Provo City Community Development Director Gary McGinn. The city has to consider a number of factors and see if each proposal makes sense.

He agreed with Stewart that there wasn't a need to start limiting the number of complexes coming into Provo.

"Obviously there's a finite limit. You can't have 1 million new units come on line," he said, adding that wouldn't be possible from anyone's standpoint. "The absorption rate into the community just isn't there."

The city also has to consider the location and design of the project, he said.

The good thing about these new developments, both men said, is if done right, they potentially can improve the rent vs. own situation in Provo.

The idea, McGinn said, is as the new buildings with amenities, more space and close proximity to campus come in, students opt for those instead of smaller single-family homes that have been converted to apartments.

Stewart declined to comment on the Meridian project specifically, since the issue is still in the land use committee and hasn't come before the council yet.

Stewart did wonder if high-density housing was appropriate for this neighborhood, which he thought might be better served by getting some single-family homes in.