Iona College participated in a hearing with the New Rochelle planning board on Nov. 28 to discuss the renovation of the School of Business.

The result of the meeting was that the college needs to conduct a Generic Environmental Impact Study, according to a “Campus Communiqué” email sent to students, faculty and staff on Dec. 4.

The college was represented at the planning meeting by Dr. William Lamb, dean of the School of Business; Kathleen McElroy, general counsel on the President’s Cabinet of Iona College; Richard Murray, director of Facilities Management at Iona College; and Anne Marie Schettini-Lynch, senior vice president for Finance and Administration at Iona College. David Steinmetz of Zarin & Steinmetz and Joanne Fernando of Gensler Architects also attended the meeting for Iona.

Lamb presented Iona’s case for the expansion of the business school. Lamb said that the plan focuses on the desire to provide students with additional classrooms, meeting rooms, modern technology, advanced tools and a space to spend time doing work and connecting with peers.

The proposed design focuses on expanding the building and adding more classrooms and spaces for students and faculty, according to Fernando. With the addition of a skyline on the first floor, large glass windows will be installed for transparency. State-of-the-art tools and technology will also be included to improve the learning experience for students.

The building would consist of four floors, with a meeting space on the first floor, an 100-seat lecture hall and two smaller lecture halls, according to Fernando. The second floor will house large and small classrooms while the third floor will include a terrace that will look out onto the Iona campus. The fourth floor will be reserved primarily for faculty offices.

After presenting the application, and the reasons for renovating, Steinmetz clarified that the renovation would require no additional students, faculty, traffic or parking. He also said that a Generic Environmental Impact Statement was unnecessary due to no unlawful division of property and insubstantial effects to the nearest residential neighborhoods.

The New Rochelle Board ultimately decided that Iona College needed to regulate a Generic Environmental Impact Study to proceed with the process of renovating.

The Dec. 4 email explained what occurred at the meeting. The email told students, faculty and staff that the business school renovation is still ongoing.

Many business students at Iona College are aware of the difficulties Iona has faced in proceeding with renovation.

“My business professor actually told me that the school is holding off on renovation because they still have to settle some things with the city of New Rochelle,” freshman Samantha Giorgio said.

Other students are unaware of the proceedings.

“Nothing has been said to me,” freshman Karabrann Williams said. “I know an email went out a few weeks ago, but other than that it’s been pretty quiet and our classes have been scattered all over campus.”

Lamb provided more insight as to what should be expected of the renovation and how the legal process is advancing.

“We’ve got some more data and analysis to provide to the city and will work with a firm to provide the additional data and analysis that the city needs,” Lamb said in an interview. “We’re working as fast as we can with the city.”

Lamb said that the building will benefit all students.

“There are enough classes within that building and enough public space within that building that it’s going to help all of the students,” Lamb continued. “We’re not just going to have School of Business classes in the building, but we’re also going to have Arts and Sciences classes.”