City considers residence limits

Student government opposes plan to curb the number of roommates in College Station homes

By: Amanda Grosgebauer

Posted: 2/27/08

Nonstudent residents of College Station are speaking up to place pressure on the College Station City Council to pass an ordinance that would allow only two unrelated individuals living in one residence.

In November 2007, Councilman John Crompton, who is also a distinguished professor of recreation, park and tourism sciences at Texas A&M, proposed that an ordinance be written that would permit two unrelated persons to live in one residence, said Darreck Ferrell, chairman of the external affairs committee of the Student Senate.

Crompton's motion did not receive a second, so no ordinance was directed to be written, Ferrell said. But the council did decide to consult stakeholders - students, landlords, property owners and city staff - to determine the necessary steps in providing a solution to the problems presented by residents.

The council hired a consultant who presented information Feb. 4 and Saturday. The first meeting was for the city staff to meet with each group of stakeholders, and the second combined the groups. The results of the meetings will be compiled by the consultant and presented at City Hall on March 27, Ferrell said.

Robert S. Cowell, the director of planning and development services for the City of College Station, said the meetings were in the listening stage. "There is no ordinance or proposal but simply discussion on neighborhood issues," he said.

Neighborhood issues including but not limited to the complaints brought up by nonstudent residents such as loud parties, parking problems and poor yard maintenance, Cowell said.

The City of Bryan passed a similar ordinance about two years ago, but Ferrell said it has yet to solve the problems about which the residents originally complained. Bryan's ordinance allows each homeowner's association to determine whether the two unrelated rule stands.

He said if a family has two adults and two teenage children, that residence would pose the same parking problem as four student renters, therefore the ordinance does not solve parking.

He said the ordinance does not solve the complaint of parties either because the ordinance would not be able to limit the number of invitees. If anything, the ordinance would increase the amount of parties, as the residential space for students would be doubled and spread across the city, Ferrell said.

"The listening phase may or may not end up in an action phase," Cowell said.

He said the action phase could ensue after the March 27 meeting.

"The council may then direct staff to write an ordinance depending on the report of the consultant," he said

"The ordinance once drafted would then be voted on by the council," Ferrell said. "Meaning it will not be decided on by a vote from the residents of College Station."

Wayne Larson, director of public communications for the City of College Station, said the city council would have several residence meetings before any votes.

Off-Campus Aggies and the Student Government Association sponsored meeting to raise awareness of the possibility of the ordinance being recommended by the city council and to engage volunteers to spread the word across campus.

Ryan McLagan and Brady Black from the executive board of SGA led the on-campus campaign, "BTHO Housing Ordinance."

McLagan and Black said the campaign urges students to fight back by registering to vote in Brazos County in order to ensure pro-student candidates be placed on the council by the time the housing ordinance is introduced.

"Residents have been complaining about the parties, parking and trash for years and it has just now started to resurface," McLagan said.

Black said, "The city can say that they aren't considering an ordinance, which is true in the sense that one is not on their immediate agenda. However, the fact remains that students have sat through multiple city-ran meetings discussing the possibility of an ordinance."

Black said there would be no need for an ordinance if city codes were stringently regulated.

"The citizens were adamantly pushing for an ordinance, in the hope that a new one would fix their aforementioned problems, those which would be solvable if only existing codes were enforced," he said.

The city's consultant discussed neighborhoodwide or citywide zoning for the ordinance Saturday, Ferrell said. When the students did not say anything, the question was raised why had they not chosen one or the other, to which Student Body President Conner Prochaska said: "We don't want it at all."

"They did not leave much room to think that there is another option," Black said. "The city can get on TexAgs and write a thread that attempts to deny that fact, but the reality is they are undermining the students' ability to think about the future."

"Getting out the vote for pro-student council members will insure that this ordinance will not be directed into writing," McLagan said.

"Until then, if you have a P.O. Box or an address in College Station you must register in this county," McLagan said.

McLagan said their goal was plausible, considering the number of participants in previous student government elections.

"In the last city council election under 4,000 College Station residents participated," McLagan said. "Over 10,000 students voted in the student body president's election, which means if we can get at least 2,000 students registered, we can insure that the student voice will be heard."