City Planning Commission to Recommend Change to Room Rental Policy

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Williamsburg Planning Commission will recommend a change to the city’s existing policy for the rental of rooms in owner-occupied homes.

The commission members voted 4-2 to approve the recommendation; Sean Driscoll and Daniel Quarles dissented. The commissioners were revisiting the issue for the third time since April, and discussed possibly delaying further to bring back a previously dismissed option. But the members ultimately decided to vote on a motion to allow the rental of one bedroom to one roomer by right and the rental of bedrooms to two roomers with administrative approval.

City Council first referred the issue to the Planning Commission at its April 14 meeting. Council’s discussion had focused on allowing homeowners who live in their homes to rent rooms to more than one roomer with administrative approval, rather than seek approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals. Council wanted to encourage room rentals in owner-occupied homes, said Deputy Planning Director Carolyn Murphy in a memo to the commission.

Council suggested the commission look at several possible alternatives. The commission considered those options at their May 18 and June 15 meetings and narrowed their choices to either no change or allowing the rental of one bedroom to one roomer by right and the rental of bedrooms to two roomers with administrative approval.

The current Zoning Ordinance allows homeowners to rent one bedroom to one roomer by right. Rental of bedrooms to more than one roomer is allowed with special exception 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.

Much of the debate at Wednesday’s meeting centered on whether a change to the existing policy is needed; commissioner Greg Ballentine repeatedly said he didn’t expect many homeowners would rush to rent rooms in their homes to more than two roomers. In addition, one speaker said she didn’t want to see more college students (the city’s primary renters) moving into residential areas, even if the owners live in the homes. Quarles, who lives in a neighborhood with several homes rented to students, agreed with her concerns and said, “I think a step to make it easier to get to two roomers is a step in the wrong direction.”

The commissioners who did vote in favor of the option noted they could see the merit in no longer requiring BZA approval. Ballentine, a member of the BZA, said some feel the BZA approach takes too long and is too costly for applicants.

Regardless of how they voted, the commissioners expressed concern their recommendation will have little bearing on how council votes. In 2009, City Council tasked the commission with exploring options for possibly increasing the number of unrelated persons living together in a single family dwelling from three to four. After months of deliberation, the commission presented council with three options (two that would keep the three-person limit), but council ultimately approved a fourth option that had not been discussed by the commission.

“It seems like council already has an opinion formed,” Driscoll said Wednesday. “Last time, it was a done deal before it started.”