The university said the future of the property is "still to be determined."
Almost a year after more than a hundred students and faculty protested at the "Bat Rally" in response to Ohio University's decision to relocate the president's residence to 31 Coventry Lane, it's unclear whether bats still dwell in 29 Park Place.
“Due to the unique construction of this facility, we cannot confirm that the building is totally free of bats,” OU Spokeswoman Katie Quaranta said in an email.
Board of Trustees Chair Sandra Anderson said 29 Park Place will not be used again for presidential housing at the board's meeting in March. She said the property will be "preserved, protected, and upgraded" for use in the future.
However, Quaranta said the future of the property is "still to be determined."
The university considered renovating 29 Park Place to be a multi-use office and conference facility last year, according to a previous Post report.
It cost the university $3,400 to maintain the property from April 1 to March 25, Quaranta said.
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On March 19, 2015 the Ohio University Foundation entered into a $1.2 million lease-purchase agreement for a new presidential residence for OU President Roderick McDavis at 31 Coventry Lane, located off campus.
The decision came after a bat infestation in the president’s home at 29 Park Place caused McDavis’ wife, Deborah, to break her foot. Some faculty reacted against the move by the university through a letter signed by more than 100 faculty members.
The home was built in 1899 and had housed OU presidents since 1952, according to a previous Post report. Seven presidents, including McDavis, lived at the Park Place home from 1952 to 2015.
Bats are most likely to form colonies in homes built before 1850, Chris Prater, owner of Prater’s Wildlife Control, said in a previous Post report. Once bats have found an opening in the building’s structure and started a colony, they’re likely to come back year after year, Prater said.
John Wharton, the owner of the Coventry Lane property, verbally agreed with Director of Athletics Jim Schaus that, as part of the lease-purchase agreement, he would pay money he had pledged to the Walter Fieldhouse and donate an additional $100,000.
As a result, Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding said on April 13 that he wouldn’t ask OU’s Board of Trustees or the OU Foundation to buy the property because Wharton’s agreement created a “problematic” situation for the university.
The McDavises still live at 31 Coventry Lane and 29 Park Place is still vacant, Quaranta said in an email.
Joe McLaughlin, who helped pen last year’s letter, said he hopes the Board of Trustees reaches out to the OU community.
“It is vital that, whatever solution they come up with, future presidents remain housed on campus,” McLaughlin, an associate English professor, said in an email. “Symbolically, he or she needs to be connected to the campus community and not entertaining major donors in some off-site, highly private location.”
Geoffrey Buckley, a geography professor, signed the letter last year.
“It seems to be a historical structure,” Buckley said. “It’s a place the university needs to take care of.”
With McDavis stepping down as president in June 2017, Buckley said it would be nice to have 29 Park Place as an option for presidential residence.
“I think faculty and students desire a stronger relationship with the president of the university and by not being on campus, I think it just makes it more difficult to accomplish that,” Buckley said.
@megankhenry
