Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Pike's Picks - Action Plan Requires Citizen Vigilance

Monday, November 12, 2007

Pike's Picks - Action Plan Requires Citizen Vigilance

I would like to call your attention to our Mayor-elect's Action Plan as found on his website. Of special note is number 9 on his list which reads " Ensure zoning codes and neighborhood plans work to preserve neighborhood character." Although encouraged by these words, I will remain vigilant as these words can mean different things to different people. I am sure that the homeowner-occupied residents of Happy Valley would not want to preserve the present character of their neighborhood already suffering from illegal rooming house blight. Our city must take active measures to rid the neighborhoods of these malignant growths and return the neighborhoods to that which is intended by single family zoning.

2 comments:

Anne-Marie said...: I'm most interested in points 1 and 11 right now.

Mayor Elect Pike states that he wants to expediently forward on the waterfront. What if the independent review (point 11) comes back and says that the mercury left in the ground and water is too high?

I don't see that points 1 and 11 can actually happen in conjunction with eachother. Unless point 11 will just be a white/green washing of an already flawed clean up plan that leaves too much to chance? I sincerely hope that's not the case.

Those are a couple things I'm really watching in the new Mayor's tenure.; November 12, 2007 at 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Nice website, I like the idea. I live in York neighborhood and think that some sort of enforcement would be nice.

I should point out though that this issue is backed up against a ton of money. As most owners own more than one or two properties, at least in our neighborhood, and they fight tooth and nail and in force against anything they see as hurting their bottom line. Just look at the re-zone in york last year, sheesh, slum-lords versus people who live in the n'hood.

I would be interested in enforcement of this code, more or less as a tool to keep renters in college housing neighborhoods in check. I really like the idea of a rental house permit, as for the love of goodness it is an income source and should be regulated...

I also would be interested to see if you could make an economic arguement for the increase in rentals if this code was enforced. I.E. a correlation in the demand increase as houses can have less occupants, thus more rentals on market.

Anyway nice site, nice topic. Will be back.; November 13, 2007 at 6:33 PM

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.