In August 2011, the City Council passed a resolution directing the Planning Commission to initiate a zoning study to examine the impacts of student housing on established neighborhoods near college and university campuses and to identify and recommend zoning ordinance changes to address such issues. The resolution was accompanied by an interim ordinance, or moratorium, preventing conversion of existing owner-occupied housing to rental within a specified area, for a period of one year or until the zoning study has been completed. Links to the resolution requesting the study, the interim ordinance (ie., “moratorium”), and a map of the area to which the moratorium applies, appear below.

The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the student housing zoning study and proposed ordinance on Friday, May 4, 2012. A link to written testimony received can be found below.

via City of St. Paul, MN – Official Website – Student Housing Zoning Study.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

By: Dana Thayer, Photojournalist: Harry Baker

FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT

DULUTH – There’s a “manifesting problem” in some Duluth neighborhoods, according to some city councilors.

On Monday, the city council took action on it.

A 5-4 vote passed an amendment to the city’s Small Area Plan.

The move will set the stage for the city to make stricter rental rules on areas near UMD and St. Scholastica.

The measure comes after concerns that single family-turned–rental homes were being converted to have more bedrooms and more tenants than previously designed for, and some councilors believed the city’s new rental code prevented that.

The worry is that adding more rooms and tenants is overcrowding neighborhoods and streets.

Duluth Mayor Don Ness is not siding with the amendment specifically, but explained the fairly–new rental code.

“I guess what we’re trying to accomplish is the appropriate use of these homes,” Mayor Ness said.

While city officials have come to understand the rental code a bit differently, what most can agree that it is supposed to do is make sure that neighborhoods do not suffer by taking on more people than it can handle.

“When you have a property and you increase the density by a tremendous amount and go from two cars to six cars and just assume those cars are going to park in front of somebody’s house, you are externalizing the cost of your business onto the neighbors,” Mayor Ness said.

Mayor Ness said the rental code is not necessarily flawed and amending it may not be the answer.

“I don’t believe in prohibiting someone from doing things with their property,” Mayor Ness said. “I think the role of government is you can make choices about this property, you just need to do so responsibly.”

With most agreeing that rentals and homeowners can co–exist, it has yet to be seen if new rules will re-define that relationship.

The next step for the changes to rental rules will be up to the Planning Commission.

The commission is asked to re-look into certain boundaries of the Small Area Plan to try and find a way to enforce more protection on single family homes that are being converted into rental properties.

via Rules May Tighten Yet Again for Duluth Rental Properties | FOX 21 News.

Friday, May 11, 2012

By: Jacob Kittilstad, Photojournalist: Kaela Rannikar

DULUTH – A proposed ordinance change to be discussed by Duluth city councilors on Monday, could cap the number of bedrooms in new rental properties at just four. Landlords around Duluth’s college areas say that’s a big problem.

In a century old house on Woodland Avenue, Barbare Montee showed off on Friday where her property investment was repaired from shambles.

“The neighbor tells the story that he’d look up here and he’d see the little raccoon tail hanging out the window,” Montee said.

“Now there’s new everything. New counter–tops, new floors, because they were rotten,” Montee said.

“My phone started ringing in October with students who live in the dormitories that are looking for six bedroom houses. I got 20 calls a week for students looking for six bedroom houses,” Montee said.

But a proposed ordinance change would limit that.

A late–released Duluth’s city council proposal reads “Rental licenses shall be based on the lesser number of bedrooms on record… or four bedrooms.”

“In my district especially we see a lot of stress,” city councilor Patrick Boyle said. “And it’s involved in the front of having a traditional homestead neighborhood for 40–50 years and then slowly but surely it turns over to 40–50–60% rental.”

Boyle says this proposal would close a loophole while trying to create a student–area of the city.

“And that hasn’t been done in the past and I think we’re starting that process now. One, with the Woodland Middle School District with Mark Lambert. 20 acres of undeveloped land, basically,” Boyle said.

Property owners, however, saying there is still a living space shortage.

The plan would mean no new rentals will be allowed to have more than four bedrooms for tenants, even if there are six rooms.

That may reduce incentives for landlords who purchase and clean–up problem properties for use of college students.

“They’re going to be possibly homeowners someday. They’re going to really contribute because of this experience. Everybody remembers where they lived when they were in college,” Montee said.

via Duluth Rental-Room Change Puts Landlords to Action | FOX 21 News.

Resolutions  12-0252R, by Councilor Stauber, recommends an Overlay area to be part of the Higher Education Small Area Plan, and 12-032-0, by Councilor Boyle,  limits the number of bedrooms for new multi-tenant rental licenses to 4. (It is currently 6)

Until Jan. 1, 2012, only single-tenant rental licenses were allowed in the “Protection Zone” around the UMD and CSS campuses.  Since the expiration of this restriction on January 1,  a dozen or more homes have been purchased by investors hoping to convert the homes to 6-bedroom rentals marketed to college students.  This is occurring in spite of increased fees for rental conversion and off-street parking requirements (5 off-street parking spaces are required for a new 6-bedroom license).

Why is this a concern?

We know that some neighborhoods around the colleges have “tipped”, more than half of the single-family homes have converted to multi-tenant rental,  for example, the lower portion of Woodland Avenue.  The new ordinances are designed to limit this condition and maintain  a healthy balance of rental and homeownership.

It is likely that this will be a hot topic in the next few weeks.  Watch for e-mail updates and media coverage.  Contact your neighbors and City Councilors.

We will do our best to answer questions by email or refer you to the person who can.

–
Campus Neighbors Advisory Group
Duluth, MN
campusneighbors@gmail.com
CampusNeighbors.org

By Rachel Britton, Reporter | Friday, March 11, 2011 12:11 AM

The West Summit Neighborhood Advisory Committee focused on improving St. Thomas’ relationship with the community at its meeting Tuesday.

Louis Smith, of Louis Smith Partners, discussed findings from his Partnership Feasibility Study. WSNAC hired Smith to research how to promote neighborhood livability in the long term.

Smith said the survey showed students perceive a good relationship with neighbors, but neighbors’ opinions are not as positive.

Residents are concerned with increased student house rentals in the neighborhood. The percent of non-homestead residences, which are residences that are not the owner’s principal home, rose from 23.9 percent in 2002 to 40.5 percent in 2009 in the neighborhood surrounding St. Thomas, Smith said.

Smith said the non-homestead residence “tipping point” – when neighbors become frustrated with the number of students living in the neighborhood – is generally when non-homesteads make up 30 percent of the neighborhood. The “tipping point” is also when neighbors become concerned about decreasing property values in the neighborhood.

via TommieMedia – Neighborhood livability survey suggests relations are at ‘tipping point’.

One of the most exciting aspects of the recently approved Higher Ed Small Area Plan, love it or hate it, is its potential to finally advance the conversation about neighborhood development among homeowners, college students, landlords, the universities and the city beyond their respective feedback loops. It will create room for new dialogue about the priorities that logically follow.

By: Michael Kooi, for the News Tribune

via Local view: OK, Duluth is a college town, but can it be more? | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota.