Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Town/Gown Talks - Time for the City Council to Act

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Town/Gown Talks - Time for the City Council to Act

At the August 4th meeting of the City Council, the members voted to take comprehensive action on illegal rooming houses and related issues. Jack Weiss identified these issues as:

-Decriminalization of parts of the Bellingham City code to ease enforcement.
-Landlord licensing.
-Changing, in some manner, the definition of family.
-Enhancing enforcement of code violations (upgrade of Litter Control Officer position).
-Upgrading the nuisance ordinances.
-Beginning a dialogue with the new WWU administration under its new president.

I have spoken to the first 5 of these issues (of this six-legged stool) in previous blog entries. (You can read those by clicking here, here, here, here and here.) The sixth item relates to the relationship between the city and the university. Many of the problems manifest themselves in that which the City Council and the Mayor call nuisances, e.g. loud parties, litter, drunkenness, illegal parking, etc. I separate the issue of illegal rooming houses, which is a zoning and density problem, from the issue of nuisances which do not necessarily stem from illegal rooming houses, although there are still those who confound the two. That being said, there is reason for the city to talk seriously to the university about off-campus student behavior.

I wrote to Dr. Bruce Shepard, President of WWU, in an as yet unanswered letter (click here to read that letter) on 16 September and brought up nuisances as his interview with the Herald implied that he would continue the university’s largely hands-off attitude and asked that the community keep student behavior “in context”, whatever that means.

It is interesting to note that student off-campus behavior is under increased scrutiny nationwide and rightly so. A recent article from the Associate Press mentions actions at Washington State University, Duke, Rutgers, Ohio State and Penn State (click here to read the article). Nobody is advocating taking a club to students, however, rules covering off-campus behavior by their very existence can send a powerful message to those living or playing off-campus. Perhaps Dr. Shepard might wish to talk to Washington State University President Elson S. Floyd whose student code contains the following:

Article II: Proscribed Conduct

WAC 504-26-200 Jurisdiction of the university standards of conduct for students.

The university standards of conduct for students shall apply to conduct that occurs on university premises, at university sponsored activities, and to off-campus conduct that adversely affects the university community and/or the pursuit of its objectives. Each student is responsible for his/her conduct from the time of application for admission through the actual awarding of a degree, even though conduct may occur before classes begin or after classes end, as well as during the academic year and during periods between terms of actual enrollment. These standards shall apply to a student's conduct even if the student withdraws from school while a disciplinary matter is pending. The university has sole discretion to determine what conduct occurring off campus adversely impacts the university community and/or the pursuit of university objectives. (Click here to read the original on the WSU website.)

So the City Council and the Mayor should talk to WWU, and soon, as part of Jack Weiss’ proposal. They may want to bring a few Bellingham residents along for the discussions to provide "context."

NB. Here is a postscript to my blog entry of 29 September (click here to read that entry) regarding WWU and rental advertising. I visited the Viking Union on 4 October to view the housing rental bulletin board. As promised to me by Mr. Schuster, Director of Viking Union Facilities, I found no advertising for single family homes in violation of the Bellingham Municipal Code (BMC). No ads were posted under the headings of “4 and 5 Bedroom Rentals” which is good but leaves one to wonder the reason for which these categories are still there. My understanding was that a warning regarding posting of ads violating the BMC would also be placed on the board, however, I did not find any such notice.

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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.