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City Room Rental Regulations Won't ChangeBy Amber Lester Kennedy Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Williamsburg’s regulations for room rentals in owner-occupied homes will not change. The City Council could not agree on any alternatives presented to the board Thursday, with two motions failing to pass. As a result, the existing ordinance will remain in place, which garnered applause from an audience of homeowners who have pleaded with both Council and the Planning Commission to not encourage more rentals in single-family neighborhoods. The Planning Commission recommended no change to the regulations at its Aug. 17 meeting. 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 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. Council had pushed the Planning Commission to determine whether the city should increase the number of roomers allowed in owner-occupied homes to four roomers. It was the hope of council at the outset that by promoting rentals in owner-occupied homes, college students might have another housing option and residents might have an additional potential revenue stream. Going into Thursday’s meeting, council had three options: no change to the regulations; allow rental of a second room with administrative approval, with a change to parking regulations; or allow up to four roomers, with a change to parking regulations. Councilman Doug Pons moved to adopt the first option, but no one seconded the motion. Scott Foster moved to adopt the final option, for four roomers. The motion failed 3-2, with Pons, Mayor Clyde Haulman and Vice Mayor Paul Freiling dissenting. |
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Comments
Conclusion...THE SOLUTION RESTS WITH OUR LOCAL COLLEGE TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM WITH RESIDENCY NEEDS!!!!!
Yes, that is exactly what we want.
Residential owners WANT the city to protect their home values. That is their job; not to be intrusive but to enforce the laws the residents THEMSELVES enact.
The folks who want the City to look the other way are the folks who are happy to run property into the ground. Just go to another town with a student population and you will see what happens when "big brother" doesn't bother to do their job.
I suspect there are many cities & towns across the U.S. that wished they could go back in time where the city had some control over college student housing.
We as a city are responsible to maintain property values - not allow them to decline and that's what ALWAYS happens when multiple students are housed. I don't care if the owner is "in residence."
I know of at least two Bed & Breakfasts on our street where the owners have secretly moved but drive in every day. We were told they would be in residence too when they changed the rules for them a few years ago.
The same would happen to owner occupied student rental, especially if the student's family buys the house!!!
Let the college deal with housing and preserve our neighborhoods and property values.