Plans for new colleges move forward in Board of Aldermen

The Board of Aldermen’s legislation committee voted unanimously Monday night to recommend plans for two new residential colleges to the full Board of Aldermen for a vote.

The decision to send the Planned Development District on Science Hill forward passed without much debate from committee members and the public. Not one community member came forward to register a complaint, and aldermen on the committee asked only a handful of questions of Yale representatives, including the Associate Vice President for New Haven and State Affairs Michael Morand ’87 DIV ’93.

For Morand, securing the approval held special significance — it was his final official action as the University’s liaison to the city, a role he’s filled for over a decade. He’ll move to a new position in the Office of Public Affairs and Communications that focuses on state communications in January.

When he announced at the meeting that it would be his final official act, Morand received a round of smiles and applause from aldermen present. Following the meeting, Morand posed for photos around mock-ups of the new colleges, which are slated to be ready for the 2015-’16 academic year.

“Should we ask the aldermen to bow down?” joked School of Architecture Dean Robert A.M. Stern ARC ’65 — whose firm, Robert A. M. Stern Architects, LLP, is designing the colleges — as the group applauded Morand.

The legislation committee is made up of six members of the board, including Ward 1 Alderman Mike Jones ’11.

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