HOUSING
LIMITS Ordinance says only four unrelated
people can live in home
Citizen-Patriot - 10 Apr 2006
...ALBION, MI - Off-campus housing in Albion's residential neighborhoods
soon will no longer be crammed with students.
A new definition of "family," approved
recently by the Albion City Council, limits the number of unrelated
people in a home to four in areas zoned single-family.
The ordinance change becomes effective May 1 and
will have the biggest impact on rental homes in the area of Albion
College...
Ames
IA
Ames
anti-"Animal House" housing ordinance legal, Iowa Supreme
Court says Courier - 28 Jul 2007
... AMES, IA - The city of Ames doesn't want a bunch of college students
running around in togas in an Animal House located in quiet family
neighborhood and is within its rights to enforce a housing ordinance
to keep it from happening, a narrowly divided Iowa Supreme Court ruled
on Friday.
The court said the city's ordinance banning more
than three unrelated people from living in a home in certain residential
zones is constitutional and may be enforced ...
The ordinance, passed in 2000, was designed to stem
the flow of Iowa State University students into residential areas,
creating what the court refers to as an "Animal House" atmosphere
in quiet family-populated neighborhoods ...
Landlords
plan litigation against over-occupancy ordinance Iowa
State Daily - 9 Mar 2004
...AMES - An Ames zoning ordinance restricting occupancy of unrelated
people in rental housing is under fire once again. A group
of landlords and businessmen are planning to file a lawsuit against
the city of Ames to have the ordinance limiting housing occupancy
removed, said Gordon Meyer, a spokesman for the group. The ordinance's
definition of family is unfair -- allowing as many as 16 related people
to live together in a four bedroom housing unit and just three unrelated
people in the same sized space, he said...
Detailed
reporting on separate link This link contains electronic newspaper articles
chronicling Boulder's Hill Neighborhood area's move toward an enforceable
'less-than-three' ordinance.
Bowling
Green, OH
Six
students sent packing City ordinance sets cap at three
for unrelated individuals in a single house
BG News - 16 Jan 2008
... BOWLING GREEN, OH - When senior ... and five of her friends moved
into a five-bedroom house on Troup Avenue, she didn't know much about
a city ordinance that does not allow such an arrangement ...
Their landlord, Douglas Cheetwood, had separate agreements
with the three students who weren't on the lease and had allowed them
to mail their rent checks to him, according to court records. Six
male university students who lived in the house last school year had
a similar arrangement. Their parents signed agreements and mailed
checks to Cheetwood.
By Jan. 9, Cheetwood was convicted of 200 violations
of city code. Cheetwood could be fined nearly $50,000 if he violates
the code again during his two-year probation ...
Bryan/College
Station, TX
Bryan
council to review roommate zoning
Eagle - 10 Oct 2006
...BRYAN, TX - The Bryan City Council will consider requests Tuesday
from three neighborhoods to reduce the number
of unrelated residents who can share a single-family home.
The city has been inundated with requests since
the council created a new zoning classification in April. The Residential
Neighborhood Conservation zoning, also known as RNC, was launched
in response to complaints that groups of unrelated adults, mostly
college students, were sharing homes in residential neighborhoods
- causing problems with traffic, noise and code violations...
Roommate
limit effects questioned Manager: Altering ordinance won't remedy nuisance
issues
Eagle - 1 Oct 2005
...BRYAN/COLLEGE STATION, TX - "[Changing the roommate limit]
is a drastic measure. We've got about 55,000 students in this community,
and they've got to live somewhere."
There are about 8,080 rental properties in Bryan,
according to the city's planning and development department. Not
all, of course, are occupied by college students, but that group
has been the focus of an ongoing debate over whether neighborhoods
should be allowed to lower the roommate limit from four.
If the limit is set at two, college students still
can put two names on the lease and have friends over every night,
Jackson said. And a renter living alone or with just one roommate
still is capable of making noise, throwing loud parties and leaving
the yard unkempt...
Chief Strope also has said lowering the roommate
limit won't alleviate neighborhood problems. A "neighborhood
nuisance" team of up to four police officers began patrolling
Bryan streets on weekend nights last month. Off-duty and reserve
officers work the shift so patrol officers are not taken away from
their regular duties.
Bryan officers receive more than 100 neighborhood
nuisance calls per weekend during the spring and fall, officials
said...
Council
may limit residents per home Windsor Heights faces a 'crisis' as
older properties are turned into rentals, being over occupied and falling
into disrepair
Register - 24 Jan 2008
... It is not rowdy college students keeping neighbors up at all hours
of the night with their loud music and partying that bothers the city
of Windsor Heights. It is not the empty beer cans, boxes and kegs littered
on the yard either. Rather, it is the five or six cars parked in the
driveway of a house in the neighborhood that causes an eyesore. It's
the number of family members who work different shifts and come and
go at all hours of the night ...
Students
feeling the rental squeeze Fort Collins residents seek to enforce
a 1964 law limiting the number of unrelated occupants.
Denver Post, CO - 24 Apr 2005
...FORT COLLINS, CO - In the past decade alone, the school has gained
5,000 students, and the supply of affordable off-campus housing hasn't
kept up with demand...
Detailed
reporting on separate link: 2006 This link contains electronic newspaper articles
chronicling the metro area's move toward an enforceable 'less-than-three'
ordinance.
Indiana,
PA
Residents
Want Limits on Student Housing
Indiana Gazette - 17 Sep 2004
...INDIANA, PA - Residents of the Strangford and Oaks Point roads
area want the Burrell Township supervisors to adopt regulations
to control the number of unrelated individuals living in apartments
after learning Wednesday that they can do nothing about an eight-unit
apartment complex that is being constructed
in their neighborhood.
Joe DiSalvatore of Oak Points Road presented a
petition signed by 15 residents who don't want WyoTech students
to move into their quiet, rural neighborhood. He said he and his
neighbors are concerned about speeding cars on the narrow roads
and the impact of the students in the neighborhood...
Indianola, IA
Simpson
growth spurs look at zoning idea Indianola proposal aims at barring
rentals to big groups of students
Register - 11 Apr 2006
...INDIANOLA, IA - Officials in Indianola want the city to be more
family-friendly.
Step one is to define "family."
The Warren County town of 14,000 people has no official
set of housing rules to regulate who can live where.
State law requires only cities with more than 15,000
people to have them.
But the city's zoning chief, Chuck Burgin, wants
an ordinance that specifically allows no more than four unrelated
people to live in the same house.
The idea is to prevent landlords from buying homes
near Simpson College and renting them to large groups of college students...
Kalamazoo,
MI
Detailed
reporting on separate link: 1996-1999 This link contains electronic newspaper articles
chronicling the Knollwood neighborhood's move toward an enforceable
'less-than-three' ordinance.
Does
Knoxville zoning prohibit college rentals in subdivisions?
WATE - 29 Mar 2004
...KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Residents of a west Knoxville subdivision are
complaining that several homes in their neighborhood are being rented
by college students. 6 On Your Side investigates how zoning rules
cover college students living off campus.
A 40-year-old subdivision off Lonas Road is becoming
a popular neighborhood for students. But Knoxville and Knox County
have zoning rules that cover where homes, multi-family dwellings and
businesses can be located...
Knoxville's zoning ordinance defines a single family
home as "a family of one or more persons related by blood, marriage,
adoption, or a group, not to exceed five persons, not all related
by blood or marriage, can occupy the premises and live as a single,
non-profit unit."
Zoning inspector Anita Cash explained further. "And
it's perfectly legal, per city of Knoxville zoning ordinance, for
them to reside in the home."...
Lubbock's
housing ordinance has landlord seeing purple AP - 13 Dec 2003
...The landlord painted the [student rental] house [purple] to protest
this West Texas city's housing ordinance, and it's an issue filled
with shades of gray.
The city allows no more than two unrelated persons
to live in a single-family residence. That has Texas Tech students
and landlords crying discrimination...
Milledgeville
sets occupancy limits City Council gives single-family
home residents two years to become compliant
Telegraph - 15 Nov 2006
...MILLEDGEVILLE, GA - No more than three unrelated people may live
together in a single-family residence in this city, the Milledgeville
City Council unanimously decided Tuesday night.
Council members voted in favor of the limit, which
gives residents two years to become compliant.
"I felt like our ordinance, as it was, was too
vague in terms of defining 'family,' " City Councilman Steve
Chambers said after the meeting...
Zoning
meeting Colonnade - 6 Oct 2006
...Milledgeville, GA - The Milledgeville Planning and Zoning Board
rescheduled Monday’s public hearing on a possible ordinance
pertaining to single family residential homes because the number of
people who showed up for the meeting exceeded the building’s
legal limit.
“We have been informed by our fire chief that the occupancy
of this facility is not big enough to accommodate one of the hearings
we are having tonight,” City Attorney Jimmy Jordan announced
to those in attendance Monday. “The hearing with regards to
the unrelated persons zoning amendment, changing the definition of
family in the zoning ordinance, that hearing will be rescheduled.”
The ordinance could affect both renters and landlords if it passes
both the Planning and Zoning Board and the City Council. The ordinance
would limit the number of unrelated residents in a single family dwelling
to three, and would prevent landlords from subdividing a unit without
rezoning...
Turnout
brings about delay in Baldwin hearing Telegraph -3 Oct 2006
...MILLEDGEVILLE, GA - More than 200 people showed up for Monday night's
Planning & Zoning Commission meeting, postponing a hearing about
an ordinance that would limit the number of unrelated people who could
live together in a single-family zone.
"We have been informed that this facility is
not big enough to accommodate one of the hearings tonight," City
Attorney Jimmy Jordan announced to a standing-room-only crowd...
Meg Mason, president of the newly created Milledgeville
Residential Investors, a group of landlords against the
ordinance, said her organization requested a change of venue last
Friday but said she had not heard back about the inquiry.
John Alton, chairman of the Historic Preservation
Commission that supports the ordinance, said he too requested a new
location last week. But he said he was told it could not be changed
because the date and venue already had been posted...
Missoula, MT
Detailed
reporting on separate link This link contains electronic newspaper articles
chronicling the Knollwood neighborhood's move toward an enforceable
'less-than-three' ordinance.
Oxford, MS
Proposal
could change housing for students
Daily Mississippian - 1 Sep 2004
...OXFORD, MS - The latest debate facing Oxford’s Planning
Commission hits close to home for college
students living off campus in houses located primarily in neighborhoods.
A proposal was brought before the planning commission
to place limits on the number of unrelated people able to live in
single family residential houses and other properties such as duplexes.
If passed by the commission and Board of Aldermen
in the coming weeks, limits of three unrelated tenants will be set
on houses in areas zoned RA and a limit of four unrelated tenants
for houses zoned RB, such as duplexes...
Raleigh/Chapel
Hill, NC
The Daily
Tar Heel (Chapel Hill) archives:
Enter "Duplexes" in search area
Plattsburgh
takes on college students Press Republican - 16 Jan 2008
... PLATTSBURGH, NY — City of Plattsburgh officials hope changes
in law will ease problems with drunken college students.
The Common Council will hold public hearings soon
to give residents an opportunity to offer their two cents on proposed
changes to city ordinances. The Common Council is considering altering
noise ordinances and the definition of what constitutes a family ...
Single-family
home residents soon defined Saginaw News - 16 Sep 2004
...SAGINAW, MI - Saginaw Township leaders are close to enacting a
rule that would define a family to prevent more than two students
from renting a single-family home.
Some neighbors have complained about parties, cars
parked on lawns and homes that aren't kept up, said Rob Grose, assistant
director of community development...
Salisbury,
MD
Detailed
reporting on separate link This link contains electronic newspaper articles
chronicling Salisbury's move toward an enforceable 'less-than-three'
ordinance.
State
College, PA
Detailed
reporting on separate link: 1994-1999 This link contains more than 90 electronic newspaper
articles chronicling the burough's move toward an enforceable 'less-than-three'
ordinance.
Zoning
rules reviewed
The Messenger - 16 Apr 2006
...TROY, NY - Citing numerous complaints from residents about noise
and rowdy behavior, the Troy City Council is seeking to tighten the
zoning ordinance regarding single-family homes in a move aimed squarely
at college students.
Council members say it's all about a clash of cultures
between families trying to live peacefully and the sometimes more
uproarious lifestyle of college students who are increasingly moving
into neighborhoods ostensibly zoned for single-family dwellings.
A draft ordinance supplied to council members this
week seeks to amend the current city zoning ordinance to specifically
prohibit anyone but a single family from living in R-1 residential
homes. The proposed amendment defines a “single family”
as one or more persons related by blood, marriage, adoption and other
legally recognized relationships.
The definition would allow up to two unrelated people,
and their children, to live together in a single family home.
But the ordinance specially notes that “family”
does not mean “any society, club fraternity, sorority, association,
lodge, federation, or other like organization; or any group of individuals
whose association is temporary or seasonal in nature.”
City Council members say the push to strengthen the
zoning ordinance is in response to complaints they have received from
residents about the effect large groups of college students are having
on neighborhoods.
“It's because of the partying that goes on,
not only on weekends, but also during the week,” said District
2 Councilman Charles Meeks...
'Family'
rule causes clash at meeting
Daily Local - 17 Sep 2004
...WEST CHESTER, PA - asked the council to consider the advisability
of amending the code’s definition of "family" from four
to two unrelated adults.
"It is an attempt to correct the imbalances that
have occurred over the past 30 years, which practically destroyed family
life in our neighborhood in a rush to provide student housing and cash
in on it," he said.
Norley said that the change would make the area less
attractive to speculators, who buy single-family houses and rent them
to four people...
