Southland Hills residents are worried that Towson University is growing a bit too close for comfort.

At a Thursday evening meeting, neighbors voiced concerns over the university's new public safety building on West Towsontown Boulevard, set for groundbreaking later this year. Residents want the university to create more buffer space between the edge of a planned parking lot and the property line with Alabama Road homes.

During the two-hour meeting, attended by more than 30 residents, TU facilities officials fielded questions and comments on the project.

"There's a lot of long-term issues," said Alabama Road resident Mike Batley, who added that the university has "not a great track record dealing with the residents."

The $8 million building, funded through the university's budget, will house Towson University police, many of whom now work in the adjacent General Services building. Due to cramped conditions, six of 52 police employees, including TU's police chief, Bernie Gerst, currently work in the Administration Building on York Road. Those employees would move into the new public safety building.

Construction will lower the grade there by six feet, with a retaining wall, two fences and parking lot lighting aimed away from homes. Roger Hayden, TU's associate vice president for facilities management, said he would be willing to meet with residents to discuss their requests for the fencing and other measures. He joked in response to one written question, "If you have Diet Coke, I'll be there."

According to the university's current plans, the new building will be constructed on what were once tennis courts. The building will be close to the road, with an access road running in front. A parking lot for about 60 faculty and staff cars will be installed behind the building, alleviating some pressure on campus garages.

"Every parking space is critical for us," said David Mayhew, TU's director of architecture and engineering.

A new entrance, serving the new building and the current General Services building will be built across from the university's new "gateway" at University Avenue. The current General Services driveway will become an exit. Mayhew said county road-widening work on Towsontown Boulevard precludes keeping an entrance there.

Residents want the university to eliminate a back row of 20 parking spaces to create more buffer space and reduce traffic, "barring (the building) not happening at all," said Nicole Nesbitt, president of Southland Hills Community Association.

Neighbors sought assurances that the new building would not create more bus and truck traffic to the existing building—Mayhew said it would not.

Therese McAllister, an Alabama Road resident, came armed with enrollment figures and other numbers. One Monday, she sat outside the General Services parking lot and counted 112 vehicles going in and out during a workday.

If the university doesn't deal with the parking and increase the buffer, she said, "this meeting will have been a failure and a complete waste of time."

Ahead of the meeting, some residents quietly hinted the situation was as contentious as the university' 2009 meeting with Rodgers Forge residents that led to TU signing a memorandum of understanding that relocated a new arena. The Thursday meeting was far less contentious.

Others, like West Towson resident Mike Ertel, noted that the project as presented in recent renderings doesn't resemble the small addition shown on the university's 2009 master plan.

"They do this every time," he said. "They never get specific until they do the project. It's just an excuse for them to come throw that out there."

Russ Kuehn, who lives on Alabama Road directly behind the proposed site, acknowledged during the meeting that the university was trying to meet residents halfway, but noted that funding for the project has already been approved.

"What, if any, leverage we have on the project is goodwill," he said.