City Planning Commission To Discuss Room Rentals

By Amber Lester Kennedy Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Williamsburg Planning Commission will host a public hearing on Wednesday to discuss possible changes to its zoning rules regarding rental of bedrooms in owner-occupied dwellings.

The commission will consider possible alternatives to the existing zoning regulations. They will discuss allowing an owner to rent one bedroom to one roomer by-right or rent two bedrooms to two roomers with administrative approval. They will also discuss creating separate sections in the zoning ordinance for rental of rooms to visitors and rental of rooms to roomers, redefine owner-occupancy and prohibit corporate ownership for rental of rooms to roomers.

Council referred the issue to the Planning Commission at its April 14 meeting. Council’s discussion had focused on allowing homeowners who live in their dwellings to rent rooms to more than one roomer with administrative approval, rather than Board of Zoning Appeals approval. Council wants to encourage room rentals in owner-occupied homes over room rentals in houses not occupied by the owner, according to a memo to the commission from Deputy Planning Director Carolyn Murphy.

Council suggested the Planning Commission look at the possible alternatives, in an effort to “better accommodate students and others in the city’s single family neighborhoods,” Murphy wrote. Council suggested either: allowing rental of bedrooms to two roomers with Zoning Administrator approval; allowing rental of bedrooms up to four roomers with Zoning Administrator approval; or allowing rental of bedrooms to two roomers with administrative approval by the Zoning Administrator and to three to four roomers with BZA approval.

The Zoning Ordinance currently allows the rental of one bedroom to one roomer by right. Rental of bedrooms to more than one roomer is allowed with special exception approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals, with a maximum of two bedrooms rented to two roomers each, for a total of four roomers.

The current regulations were adopted in 1991 and since then, five requests for special exceptions have been made to the BZA. Two were denied and three were approved. The last case approved allowed two bedrooms to be rented to four roomers on Matoaka Court on Feb. 1; the same address had been approved for special exception previously in 2009.

Planning Commission considered Council’s alternatives at their May 18 and June 15 meetings and narrowed their choices to either no change or allowing rental of one bedroom to one roomer by right and the rental of bedrooms to two roomers with BZA approval.

The public hearing is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Stryker Building.