Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and the University of Vermont announced Monday that they have reached a new housing agreement that would commit the school to increasing on-campus housing if it enrolls more students.

The City Council will start reviewing the proposed deal Monday evening.

The memorandum of understanding would require UVM to provide 1.5 beds per every undergraduate student enrolled above the Fall 2023 level, which was 11,614 students, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. In return, the mayor is pledging to work with UVM to change the zoning on three parcels where the school wants to build new housing. The sites are Trinity Campus, a parcel on 280 East Avenue, and the Waterman block on South Prospect Street. UVM could construct up to 1,500 beds across the three parcels, according to the release.

“While construction always takes a long time and involves significant uncertainty, this agreement creates a clear path to reducing student housing pressures to the lowest point since the ‘90s and supports modest growth in enrollment for undergrads,” said Weinberger in Monday’s press release.

The agreement comes after years of debate between the city and UVM over the university’s rising enrollment, which city officials say has exacerbated Burlington’s ongoing housing crisis.

UVM and Burlington had a housing agreement in place from 2009 to 2019 in which the university committed to keeping a 1-to-1 ratio of new undergraduate students and new beds.

But when that agreement lapsed, the university declined to sign a new one.

Meanwhile, UVM’s enrollment jumped higher, increasing by over 600 undergraduate students between 2019 and 2022.

In February, the City Council withheld permission for the university to build more housing on its Trinity campus, citing concerns that the new housing would only lead to increased enrollment without addressing current housing issues.

The new agreement, however, promises to allow the school to continue growing while proportionally increasing on-campus housing. The agreement would also commit the university to providing the city with annual reports on beds and trends in enrollment.

“After a year of discussions and hard work, we now have a plan to up-zone not one parcel, but three separate large UVM-owned lots for major on-campus student housing projects, as well as fresh commitments from the university to build new beds as undergraduate enrollment grows, and to improve transparency around their future goals and enrollment data,” said Weinberger in the press release.

“UVM and Burlington are fortunate to be so attractive to a new generation of Vermonters,” said UVM President Suresh Garimella, in the release. “The university is glad to work with our partners in the City to make possible our envisioned expansion of on-campus housing.”

The mayor will present the agreement publicly in a City Council presentation on Monday and hopes to receive approval from the council in early 2024.

If approved, the agreement would be effective through October 2028.