Monthly Archives: March 2012

Student Rental Housing Ordinance Recommendation Released

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David Redmond writes with news that City Staff have released their recommendation for the proposed Student Rental Housing Ordinance. This was heard in a closed meeting of the Neighborhood Committee of the Planning Commission and forwarded to the Planning Commission for study. Essentially the recommendation is for no new conversions of single family homes to student rentals within 150 feet of existing student rentals.

Note that the only opportunities for public hearing would be 5/4 at the Planning Commission and 6/20 at the City Council.

The timeline for the full process is as follows:

  • 3 August 2011 (Done): Student Housing Moratorium bridge resolution approved by City Council
  • 23 March 2012 (Done): Agenda sent to Neighborhood Committee of the Planning Commission with proposed new ordinance
  • 28 March 2012 (Done): Discussion of proposed ordinance at Neighborhood Committee
  • 6 April 2012: Planning Commission releases proposed ordinance for public hearing
  • 4 May 2012: Public Hearing at the Planning Commission
  • 9 May 2012: Discussion at Neighborhood Committee (to review comments made at public hearing)
  • 8 May 2012: PC consideration of Neighborhood Committee recommendation
  • 6 June 2012: First City Council reading of proposed ordinance recommended by the Planning Commission
  • 13 June 2012: Second City Council reading of proposed ordinance
  • 20 June 2012: Third City Council reading of proposed ordinance and public hearing
  • 27 June 2012: Fourth and final City Council reading of proposed ordinance
  • 3 July 2012: Legal Ledger Publication
  • 3 August 2012: Ordinance effective date
  • 2 August 2012: Expiration of Moratorium

David also shared these three documents:

Area 21 Parking Permit Petition Passes City Council (barely)

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A number of neighbors stood up tonight in support of the Area 21 parking permit changes. This was important, since a number also rose to oppose the change. Thanks to everyone who wrote emails and spoke up, your voice was critical. In fact, the petition only barely passed, on a 4-3 vote of the council. Russ Stark supported the petition and Chris Tolbert opposed it.

The next step for the neighborhood is the RSVP construction. We don’t expect to see signs for the new permit until after that construction is complete, some time in the fall of this year.

Area 21: Write or Call City Council Today, Join us Wednesday

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This is it! City Council holds its hearing on the Area 21 parking permit petition this week, on Wednesday 3/21. The hearing will be at 5:30 in the basement (Room 40 A & B) of City Hall (15 Kellogg Blvd). Please join your neighbors in support of the petition one last time.

Whether or not you can be at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, please consider writing to members of the council. I’ve prepared a list of their addresses (PDF), that includes their email addresses since snail mail probably won’t arrive before the meeting. Phone numbers are also on the list if you wish to give them a call. It is most critical to communicate with Russ Stark (who represents those of us on Lincoln west of Prior) and Chris Tolbert (who represents residents of Lincoln east of Prior), but we need support from everyone for the petition to be passed. Please let them know why you support the changes and extension of the Area 21 permit, give them a sense of who lives in the neighborhood and why this is important to us.

We will only have a few minutes to make our case on Wednesday, so we should really coordinate the message we want to get across. If you can join me tomorrow evening, Tuesday 3/20 at 7pm, 1993 Lincoln Avenue, that would be very helpful. I’d like to talk over testimony, make sure we cover all the bases.