CHENEY – The Planning Commission is again scheduled to take up discussion at its Nov. 18 meeting of an issue whose resolution has evaded local officials for decades — how to regulate non-family occupancy of single-family homes.
In 2009, the Cheney City Council adopted an ordinance limiting the number of unrelated persons who can live in a home or apartment outside of what is consider by definition in the city’s municipal code as a “family” or a “functional family.” Under the definitions, a family “means one or more persons related by blood, marriage or legal adoption” while a functional family “means 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.”
Using these definitions, the city has limited the number of people who can live in a single-family home outside of a family or functional family. City officials often receive complaints — particularly in single-family or R-1 zones — of violations of these codes, sometimes resulting in nuisance code violations or parking problems due to multiple issues taking up street space.
It was the latter that commissioners received a briefing on from staff at their Oct. 14 meeting, with several possible remedies proposed. City codes allow for a certain number of vehicles per unit, and senior planner Brett Lucas said one possibility was requiring a parking permit homeowners or renters would purchase that would allow for two more spaces per residence.
Other proposals had to do with enforcing existing codes through rental requirements, inspections and verifications and setting limits on parking based off of these. Violations could result in fines and/or loss of registration abilities.
“We already have it on the books,” Lucas said. “It’s just a matter of if the city wants to do it.”
Several commissioners expressed concerns with these approaches, particularly residential requirements and inspections.
“What you’ve just described is illegal,” Commissioner Dan Hillman said.
Witherspoon Kelley attorney Lindsay Kornegay, who is assisting the city with its occupancy issues, said other cities have implemented such approaches, and courts have found these legal. The city of Seattle instituted codes requiring inspections of certain rentals every 10 years in 2012, codes she said that have been found to be in compliance with state and federal laws. Kornegay said Cheney is only considering such moves in single and two-family/duplex situations.
“We’re looking at behavioral issues of college students in single-family residences,” she added.
Commissioner Chair Rick Mount expressed concerns about the constitutionality of imposing these measures if done so only on single-family dwellings. Mount questioned if the city would “run afoul” of the equal protection clause if the measures didn’t also apply to multifamily units.
“Yes, it would need to apply to all rental units,” Kornegay said.
Commissioner Dan Turbeville said there needed to be distinctions in the requirements between homeowners living in their dwellings and homeowners who rent. Hillman pointed out that enforcing laws currently on the books has been difficult and that there didn’t seem to be much the city could do to effectively make people comply with occupancy requirements.
“It’s the guys ignoring the rules that are the concern here,” Hillman added.
Several residents in attendance echoed that, noting that owners renting their homes to individuals not in accordance with family and functional family rules have not only created daily living problems, but also problems that affect other homeowners’ property values. They also complained about Cheney’s ability to enforce its nuisance codes, noting that current efforts have fallen short of effectiveness since the retirement of former police captain and code officer Rick Campbell in March.
Commissioners and city staff agreed to revisit the issue at the Nov. 18 meeting. In a Nov. 12 interview, Lucas said staff will present some examples of other cities residential parking programs and will look for commissioners to make a recommendation on which direction the city should go.
“Do we want to go with this stuff; do we want to hold back, what do we want to do?” he said. “Are we trying to solve a symptom or a disease?”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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