Over-occupancy of single-family homes in Cheney took center stage at the Jan. 9 Planning Commission meeting.
During a comprehensive plan review of the city’s housing chapter, senior planner Brett Lucas noted language about housing balance under “Housing Issues” point out residents’ concerns about over-occupancy of rental homes in the city. The language went on to list problems associated with this usage, such as noise and poor maintenance, and stated that in the short term, “they may destabilize, devalue and discourage neighborhood investment.”
Commissioner Dan Turbeville jumped in at this point to bring further emphasis to the problem and asking if it was being addressed. As an example, Turbeville said he had difficulty getting to the meeting Monday night not only because of the snow but also because streets being further limited due to high numbers of vehicles parked at homes with multiple people living in them.
“It is getting absolutely crazy in some parts of this town,” Turbeville added.
According to the city’s municipal code section 28.48.027, “A dwelling unit may be occupied by only one family or functional family” plus a number of unrelated individuals dictated by how the dwelling is zoned. For R-1, single family, that number of unrelated individuals is one.
Under the chapter’s definitions, family is a group of people related either through marriage, blood or legal adoption. A functional family is described as “a group of unrelated persons, limited to not more than two adult persons (together with their respective family members), living together as a single housekeeping unit and sharing and operating a unified and common household.”
Turbeville said he felt this situation needed to at least be addressed in the planning process. Public Works Director Todd Ableman said the issue of occupancy, while a concern for officials, is more an enforcement matter than planning, something Turbeville acknowledged, but felt something needed to be said.
Commissioner Kristine Williams asked Ableman and Lucas whether there was any data on vacancies in Cheney. Ableman said they had done a recent survey, and found that the vacancy rate for apartments was about 1 percent.
According to the comp plan, about 50 percent of Cheney housing is multifamily, with single-family comprising 37 percent and 7 percent duplex. The plan also noted Eastern Washington University provides eight residence halls capable of housing 2,253 students, and manages apartments near the Red Barn on Washington Street that are available to graduate students and students with families.
Lucas added that university officials have told the city in discussions that their housing options are “pretty full.” He also went on to explain the process for enforcing city codes, including occupancy, which generally start as informal warnings and can potentially escalate into fines against the tenant and property owner.
“The zoning code does not explicitly call out fines or how additional enforcement shall be handled,” Lucas said in an email Tuesday. “By default it falls back on Title 9, which is enforced by the police department at his/her discretion.”
Williams said she didn’t think fining the property owner was proper way of “doing the job.” Commissioner Craig Huber added most property owners know they’re violating the code, but don’t care because “it’s not enforced.”
Turbeville asked if anybody had looked at single-family homes and tried to determine how much of it was functioning as multifamily. He also felt that once a home has “gone over” to being multifamily that it was very difficult to restore it as a single-family functioning residence.
“It’s like cancer, it’s very hard to get rid of once it’s started,” he added.
Ableman and Lucas told the commission they would provide them with what information they had on the situation in order to continue a discussion.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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