Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: More from Candidate Geyer (Ward 5 Candidate)

Sunday, September 23, 2007

More from Candidate Geyer (Ward 5 Candidate)

Bill Geyer sent me the following email yesterday. He proposes a specific type of legal remedy.

Dick,

Great! Thanks for spearheading this issue. Laws are laws, and some folks want to just brush them off to feel good. When laws are not enforced, private individuals have to resort to public exposure such as your current effort. Otherwise, a private citizen can resort to a writ of mandamus whereby the city is compelled to act. I am not an attorney, but many local land use attorneys have commented on the effectiveness of this tool.

As the former Bellingham Planning Director (1985-91), I can attest to the directive for administering and enforcing the Bellingham Municipal Code. Unequal enforcement of the municipal code erodes the ability of the City to enforce other types of land use regulations. If charged with a violation, the defendant could strengthen his defense by pointing out the City is discriminatory in its practice by not enforcing the single-family provision. Given the City's history of not prosecuting the single-family violations, it is possible that a Judge would be suspect of the City's prosecution of other land use violations, thereby putting all taxpayers at risk.

Too bad my opponent feels public hearings are the answer instead of simply enforcing existing law. It is troubling that some current Council members do not have the courage to stand by the Bellingham Municipal Code that they are sworn to uphold.

Best to you in your efforts.

Bill Geyer

I would like to remind my readers that Bill Geyer’s opponent is Terry Bornemann, the incumbent council member. You can find Terry’s response to this issue in my blog of August 28^th below.

And yes, please - no hearings. Those who wish to change the code, after yet another series of mind-numbing hearings, present a peculiar problem. On what basis do you change it? There are no court decisions regarding this code. It has never been tested. We need a judicial decision on the code and not opinions from the city, the council, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.

As I said on the Mike Kent show on KGMI yesterday. There are three priority action items with respect to this issue:

Priority 1: Enforce the current code
Priority 2: Enforce the current code
Priority 3: Enforce the current code

2 comments:

Terry said...: What is Bill Geyer's solution to the affordable housing shortage?; November 27, 2010 at 4:31 AM
Zonemaven said...: You need to direct your question to Bill Geyer. :-); November 28, 2010 at 11:13 AM

The Rationale for Rental Licensing

There is the definitive experience of cities that have already adopted rental licensing and inspections in the face of exactly the same opposition as we saw in Bellingham over the last decade. Ultimately, each of these cities was proven correct in its resolve to move ahead to protect the safety and health of the renters. We already know that the city of Pasco, WA found that 15% of the units inspected under their program had serious life/safety issues. 10% had mold problems. A full 85% had problems of varying degrees. The city of Gresham, OR performed over 1600 inspections in 2009 and issued, as a result, over 4,000 citations. Lexington, KY performed inspections of units near the University of Kentucky and found that 50% had life/safety issues. Sacramento, CA began an inspection program during which one third of the units inspected had serious safety and health issues. The question why does anyone believe that the condition of rental housing here in Bellingham does not mirror that which is found in cities that have the statistics to show that time and time again the condition of rentals in our cities is problematic? All we have had to date from those who oppose licensing are broad statements by the landlords and their paladins that are completely and utterly unsubstantiated. The Zonemaven has searched in vain for the horror stories that these opponents of licensing and inspections have predicted. On the other hand, The Zonemaven did find over 100 cities that have licensing AND inspections without the catastrophic effect for the rental markets that the landlords would have you believe. (See this blog's sidebar at bottom left for list)

One Reason Illegal Rooming Houses Do Not Work

The limit for unrelated persons at a single family home rental is three residents. Leases are signed by three people who then invite additional renters to join them to lower per capita rental rates. The perverse effect is that rental rates tend to rise under these circumstances making it difficult for single families to rent single family homes. Some local rental agencies facilitate this practice.

"To say that a family is so equivalent to a ragtag collection of college roommates as to require identical treatment in zoning decisions defies the reality of the place of the family in American society, despite any changes that institution has undergone in recent years. Only the most cynical among us would say that the American family has devolved to the point of no greater importance or consideration in governmental decision making than a group of college roommates." (Stegeman v. City of Ann Arbor)

That being said, accommodation ought to be made for protected classes, especially non-traditional unions and group houses for the disabled. These classes are laid out in federal and Washington State law.