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City, UA battle over proposed honors dorm

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Good news for the University of Arizona as they look to begin construction on their 1,000-bed dorm for their Honors college. 

The Tucson City Council met in executive session Tuesday afternoon to discuss legal matters of the project. 

"We're looking forward we've been working with the neighbors, and now we're looking forward to working with the city particularly on the factors and improvements that they mentioned," said University Spokesperson, Chris Sigurdson. 

The City Council believes the UA failed to engage residents in plans to build the project which is expected to take up an entire city block between East Drachman and Mabel Streets. 

"We haven't seen the land use agreement or the management contract, so we're not in a position today to take any legal action, however," says councilman, Steve Kozachik. "It's going to hurt the University's reputation and credibility in the community." 

Kozachik says he has concerns. 

"That they would work with American Campus communities, a private housing development company to do an end run on the public process, so the public has virtually no voice that has any legal standing in this decision," says Kozachik. 

Right now, the project does include the demolition of several nearby buildings. 

One resident says he's happy his home isn't one of them. 

UA spokesperson says he wants to make sure the project benefits everyone involved. The next step is going back into the community and working with neighbors. 

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