City Planning Commission Reverses Decision on Room Rentals

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Williamsburg Planning Commission will recommend the city make no changes to its existing policy for room rentals in owner-occupied homes, despite pressure from City Council to make the application process easier.

Before a vocal audience that opposed any changes, the commission voted 4-3 on Wednesday to recommend the existing ordinance stay the same. The action reversed a July 20 decision to recommend the council alter the ordinance to allow one room rental to one roomer by right and the rental of bedrooms to two roomers with administrative approval.

At its last meeting, the City Council decided to send the issue back to the Planning Commission, requesting the commission explore a previously dismissed third option. That option would allow the rental of bedrooms to two roomers with administrative approval by Zoning Administrator and to three or four roomers with Board of Zoning Appeals 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.

It was the relatively low amount of applications that pushed commissioner Jim Joseph to wonder why they were considering altering the process. The commissioners disliked the third option enough to also unanimously pass a motion recommending council not approve it, on grounds that it was an inappropriate solution. This action was met with applause from the audience.

During a public hearing preceding the vote, several speakers questioned why the city would want to encourage more renters (typically college students) to live in single-family residential neighborhoods. Susie Dell, of Indian Springs, said parking needed to be addressed, saying she’s seen at least seven cars parked at a home rented by four students. She also mentioned that more and more parents are buying single-family homes in the city and allowing their children to live in the homes. In some cases, the children might act as owners, renting rooms to their friends, she said.

Commissioner Sean Driscoll said he likes the college students and is happy to have them back in town, but called for the college to extend its honor code to off-campus housing. “Honor doesn’t change when you cross the sidewalk,” he said.

Commissioner Daniel Quarles told the audience that, as a resident of Chandler Court, he empathized with their complaints of raucous neighbors. But he reminded audience members and fellow commissioners that the changes would affect owner-occupied homes, where owners can monitor the behavior of their tenants. He added that he at one time had a roomer living in his home, and had no problems. Taking in roomers might enable young families to buy homes in the city during a bad economy, he said.

Although the commission agreed to recommend making no changes, the members seemed doubtful City Council will follow their advice. Driscoll said he was “very frustrated with the lack of attention City Council pays to the Commission and the community.”