Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutA016 - Excerpts from November 13, 2017 Council Meeting Minutes strict inspection guideline for rental houses. Julian Birch,2925 Arbor Street,Ames,stated that his residence is adjacent to many rental properties and affected by the activities at those rentals. Mr. Birch strongly support the SCAN proposal. Joanne Pfeiffer,3318 Morningside Street,Ames,reminded the Council that an intensive survey was done in her neighborhood that resulted with a majority wanting to limit rentals and limit occupancy. Ms. Pfeiffer stated that the City must decide if families will be a part of the mix in these neighborhoods or if the neighborhoods will be student-dominated. She added that she also endorced the SCAN proposal. Katie Neilson, 2227 Knapp Street, Ames, pointed out that there are houses where the number of bedrooms is more than what is accommodated for parking spaces. That means that there would have to be an empty bedroom without a renter,which would make the house more expensive for the others living there. Ms. Neilson added that the number of people who live in a house is not what determines how students congregate or whether it will be loud or not. Parking is not a reasonable way to limit occupancy because that doesn't directly impact how residents live like bedrooms do. Council Member Orazem reminded the attendees that it is not just about the tenant,but how it affects the neighbors. This is about the neighborhood, not just an individual property. Council Member Betcher voiced her concern about the enforcement with two different definitions of bedrooms. Different information is being used if one time the Assessor count is used and then another time the City Inspection's count is used. The Council needs to clarify the data set. Council Member Orazem stated he liked to start with the Assessor count because it deals with structure and will allow for an appeal process to the Inspection's office. Council Member Beatty-Hansen stated that going with the Assessor's count first would mean no change in definition of a bedroom. Using the Assessor's count gives the City a baseline starting point. Fire Chief Shawn Bayouth stated that inspections was planning to start with the Assessor's site. Building Official Sara VanMeeteren stated that tenants would be able to finish out their lease, after that they would need to make an appeal about the difference in the number of bedrooms. Council Member Corrieri stated that the Council must be aware of the possible workload and time that could be put on staff when giving the possibility of an appeal. City Manager Steve Schainker stated that there could be inspections done so there would not be a flood of appeals,but the starting number will have to come from the Assessor because Inspections does not have all the data about bedrooms for every property. Going forward,that will be information that Inspections can keep and record that information in a data base. Ms. VanMeeteren stated that if bedroom information is needed by January 1,2018,the Assessor site needs to be used; otherwise,the bedroom count issue could come up at the inspection time for each unit. Moved by Beatty-Hansen,seconded by Orazem,to direct staff to use the JAsse§sor's bedroom count as the baseline number as of January 1, 2018. 7 Council Member Corrieri said she was concerned about flooding Inspections with appeals by using the Assessor count. She feels it will create confusion and chaos for landlords, tenants, and staff. Council Member Corrieri reminded the Council that Ms. VanMeeteren suggested starting with the current data that Inspection has and adjust as the units come up for lease renewal to help maintain certainty for people. Ms. VanMeeteren added that Inspections does not have specific numbers in software format,but has found some numbers from previous inspections,but not all,and some may have changed. Council Member Betcher stated that not having the whole set of numbers is a concern that there may not be the same consistency and timing. She believes the Assessor site is the only place the City has a complete data set that can provide a baseline to work from. City Manager Schainker clarified that Council understood that the Assessor's count would determine occupancy even if City Inspections had stated there were more bedrooms than the Assessor's count. Ms. VanMeeteren added that most properties have been inspected more recent than they have been assessed, but there is no searchable way to get the information on bedrooms. Council Member Gartin reminded the Council of the suggestion of a bedroom freeze from SCAN;however if that is done it shuts out the possibility of having a mechanism for making adjustments. The idea of a freeze may not be viable when there is no certainty with the numbers. Barbara Pleasants stated that SCAN thought about the possible remodels since being assessed. The owner would need to provide a Building Permit for the added bedroom before January 1,2018. This would prevent anyone from turning more things into bedrooms. The landlords would be given a chance to state what they have now,before January. She suggested instead of having the plus one, give the smaller units three —-- -- — -- Moved by Beatty-Hansen,seconded by Orazem,to amend the original motion to use the Assessor's bedroom count as the baseline number as of January 1,2018,or the number of bedrooms established through an official rental inspection, whichever is higher. Vote on Amendment: 5-1. Voting Aye: Betcher, Beatty-Hansen,Gartin, Orazem,Nelson. Voting Nay: Corrieri. Motion carried. City Manager Schainker stated that the City will need to send out a notice to its customers before they enter into the new agreements. The notice needs to let the landlords know what the Assessor has for a bedroom count for their rental. Council Member Gartin expressed his hesitation about the possible impact this could have on current leases that are in place now. Mayor Campbell confirmed that any leases that are currently in place should be legal for three unrelated people through the inspection process. Director Diekmann reminded the Council that it is not just RL neighborhoods, this includes all one-two single-family homes that have not been previously known as dwelling houses under the moratorium. Vote on Motion as Amended: 5-1. Voting Aye: Betcher,Beatty-Hansen,Gartin,Orazem,Nelson. Voting Nay: Corrieri. Motion carried. Council Member Gartin inquired about the proposal to freeze the number of bedrooms. Council 8 x Member Betcher agreed with this and stated there is a potential if there isn't a freeze to add a bedroom without changing the structure of a house (den) because of the definition of a bedroom. Council Member Gartin added that he wanted to create certainty in the neighborhoods and limit the density. oved by Gartin to freeze the number of bedrooms based upon the definition of bedroom Council just passed. Ms. VanMeetem stated that rentals are already frozen through the moratorium. ouncil Member Gartin withdrew his motion. Director Diekmann stated there is a difference between the neighborhoods within the moratorium versus the whole City. Moved by Betcher, seconded by Orazem, to freeze the number of bedrooms for the whole City at a�\ what is determined to be the official number of bedrooms either by Assessor's website or Inspections as per last motion for rental properties until April 30, 2018. Ms. VanMeeteren stated that this would be something that the City would only see if there was a complaint or during a regular inspection. If the unit would be over-occupied it would be noted and the landlord would have to have a person removed. Vote on Motion: 2-4. Voting Aye:Betcher, Orazem. Voting Nay:Beatty-Hansen,Gartin,Nelson, Corrieri. Motion failed. Moved by Betcher, seconded by Beatty-Hansen,adopt a limit of three people for one-two bedroom homes; three-, four-, five-, and six-bedroom houses would have the number of adults equal to the number of bedrooms. Vote on Motion: 6-0. Motion declared carr' Mr. Diekmann reminded Council of the regulations for parking. Single-family dwellings are required to have two parking spaces, dwelling houses and apartments are to have one space per bedroom, and there is a 25% increase of the parking standard for impact areas. Council Member Betcher stated that would mean four bedroom rentals fall into a gap where they could get caught short with only two parking spaces. Director Diekmann added that if the Council would like to mimic current Code, Council would not kick in the extra parking space per bedroom requirement until the number of bedrooms exceeds three. Presumably now it would have more unrelated people than the current Code would allow. Mr. Diekmann asked to clarify that one-, two-, and three-bedroom houses are still being tied to a parking space to each bedroom. Council Member Orazem confirmed that the number of parking spaces is tied to the number of bedrooms. Ms.VanMeetern added that means that all properties that 9 are allowed three unrelated people will need to reduce to two. Director Diekmann noted that in that scenario,the one-car garage and one space in front of the garage is consistent for a number of rentals in several neighborhoods. Currently those spaces are adequate to have three people renting. Moved by Betcher,seconded by Beatty-Hansen,that one-,two-,and three-bedroom homes require two parking spaces, and homes above three bedrooms are required one space per bedroom. Council Member Corrieri expressed concern of affecting affordability when there is change to the landscape of what is currently allowed as it relates to families. Director Diekmann explained that this would be taking the status quo of one-,two-,three-bedroom homes. Only larger homes would have to provide parking. The smaller homes would follow the same expectations as today. Vote on Motion: 5-1. Voting Aye:Betcher,Beatty-Hansen,Gartin,Orazem,Corrieri. Voting Nay: Nelson Mayor Campbell recessed at 9:00 p.m. and reconvened at 9:14 p.m. DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT ISSUES: Planning and Housing Director Kelly Diekmann provided background on some issues that are related to the Downtown Development such as parking, storm water regulations, and community space. Director Diekmann stated that Downtown parking standards are a balance of moderate parking requirements for new development within an urban environment. Staff believes that the current one space per unit requirement is reasonable and most market-rate,non-student developments are likely to provide at least a ratio of .5 to one parking space per unit. If any modifications were to be proposed it would be for a ratio for the Lincoln Corridor area based upon a one-space-per-two- bedroom unit standard and a lower requirement for one bedroom units. The City does have buildings that can't add additional apartments upstairs because there is not on-site parking. The City does allow for remote parking,but the space needs to be within 300 feet(or one block)and permanently available for that apartment. The Rental Code states to register a unit as a rental there must be permanent parking. In the past the City has not provided the flexibility with having a monthly permit,because that can be taken away at anytime. Staff would advocate reducing the requirement only for smaller projects and apartment sizes to ensure student housing is not over-incentivized for the area with relaxed development regulations. Larger projects should still require putting in parking. Council Member Betcher inquired about the possibility of increasing the distance from an apartment for remote parking. Mr. Diekmann stated the distance could be increased,but anything more than 500 feet would not serve a purpose; it would be as if there were not a parking requirement. Director Diekmann stated that a decision needs to be made concerning a community space in the Downtown area. City Council direction will be needed to finalize a concept for a plaza, regarding the size, location of space, purpose and features of space, and budget for improvements. Mr. 10