After months of negotiations with neighborhood residents, the University received approval from the D.C. Zoning Commission for the 2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan, the University announced Friday.

Now that the Zoning Commission approved the plan, the University can move forward with its plan to renovate Ames Hall – the main dining hall on the campus – into academic space, allowing more students who live on the Mount Vernon campus to take classes there.

Ames’ transformation will be possible once the main dining facilities are moved to the newly renovated Pelham Hall, a move slated to take place this summer, according to a University press release.

Negotiations with the community surrounding the Mount Vernon campus began in April 2009, and community members have expressed concern in the past that the plan will allow the Mount Vernon campus to grow too large.

ANC 3D Commissioner Ann Heuer said in February that she takes issue with the larger proposed residential buildings.

“It’s just a little too big,” Heuer said in February.

“I do think that the University has done a good job,” Heuer said. “But what the neighbors want and what the University wants is not always the same thing.”

Check back on May 10 for a full story in The Hatchet’s Pre-Commencement issue.