Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Council to Decide on Enforcement Options

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Council to Decide on Enforcement Options

From the blog of Sam Taylor comes the following:

“Illegal rooming houses: Mayor Pike’s executive staff are giving three options to council members on the issue. No. 1 — hire a neighborhood compliance officer and implement a pilot program at an estimated cost of about $106,000. No. 2 — Reassign the litter control officer to handle the neighborhood compliance issues with the pilot program. $30,000 in costs, according to interim Police Chief Todd Ramsay. No. 3 — Do nothing, at no cost, and put the workload on the shoulders of the current code enforcement officer, who is already working on 109 active cases. This discussion will take place during a 2:05 p.m. Planning and Community Development Committee meeting.”

The Zonemaven had already spoken briefly with Acting Police Chief Todd Ramsay on the subject, hence the blog posting of 17 February. (Click here to read that entry) You can read the full recommendation to Council on enforcement of the BMC regarding single family zoning by clicking here. Of the three proposals, the Zonemaven is supporting option number 1, which is to hire a neighborhood compliance officer while implementing a pilot program of enforcement. This problem is too pervasive and the city is growing too large merely to append these enforcement duties on a current position. The idea of making illegal rooming houses a civil infraction is a move in the right direction. There are other jurisdictions in which wise councils have implemented this change to simplify the process and to modify the requirements for burden of proof. It remains to be seen if the City Council will react in a visionary mode and select the robust option which will serve to provide enough power to restore the character of our neighborhoods in the years to come instead of those options which may have been appropriate in years passed.

Note: Aside from the committee discussions at 2:05 on Monday, the full council will consider the issue at its 7 pm meeting.

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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.