Yep...we're not the only ones talking about student housing issues. As in issues with off campus houses. Check out the thing from the NBC 10 Investigators the other day along with an oldy but goody from the New York Times. I think the bottom line is these institutions of higher learning have to take active responsibility of their student populations. Please note the New York Times article is from 1989, and it does not appear anything much has changed....
NBC10 news
Yorktown Residents Battle With Students, Landlords
Law Puts Limits On Unrelated Adults In Homes
POSTED: 9:09 pm EDT September 10, 2008
UPDATED: 11:57 am EDT September 12, 2008
PHILADELPHIA -- Some Philadlephia residents are saying their neighborhood is under siege, claiming it has been overtaken by landlords and overrun with college students.
Some of those neighbors in Yorktown have turned to Harry Hairston and the NBC10 Investigators for help.
Residents said they are fighting two battles to save their community -- one with property owners snatching up homes for sale, and the other with the college students who rent from them.
"Party through the week, party on the weekends," Yorktown resident Mary McCrea said of the students. "They don't keep up the property like they should."...They blame the changes on a growing demand for student housing and greedy landlords.
"The people next door to me made a six-bedroom house out of a three-bedroom house," said resident James Edwards.
Some residents also questioned students' behavior.
Campus Life: Villanova; Living Off Campus Could Be Tougher In Two Townships
Published: September 24, 1989
Responding to complaints of parking problems, loud parties and more Villanova students living in one house than the law allows, the Haverford Township Planning Commission voted unanimously this month to restrict off-campus housing for students.
The restriction, an amendment to a law that limits the number of unrelated people living in a house to three, says specifically that no more than three students may live in one house, and that houses for students must be at least a quarter-mile apart.
The amendment, which was passed on Sept. 13 and must be approved by both the Delaware County Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners of Haverford Township, follows a similar restriction in February by Lower Merion Township, also adjacent to Villanova. Lower Merion's student housing law was the first passed on the Main Line, the area just northwest of Philadelphia.
Lower Merion's law also limits the number of unrelated people living in a house to three. In addition, each residence is allowed no more than three parking places, and student housing must be registered with the township. Haverford Township's amendment has the same stipulations
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Says student housing in LM needs to be approved by the towsnhip? Can anybody confirm that - because I can't and it does not appear to be that way.
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permalinkStudent housing can't just occur overnight. It does need to be approved. If you have locations of other illegal or overstuffed student houses, feel free to post addresses, etc. I would also advise that you post just the facts. Someone told me that the one on Rose Lane in Rosemont is not long for this world, and if that is true, the students will have like a month to find other living arrangements.
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permalinkI hope I have not posted anything but the "facts" in my posts. If I have been wrong on anything, I would be happy to stand corrected so readers of this and other blogs can be properly informed.
If you are just offering general advice on just posting facts, I agree. I am aware of another area in Lower Merion that may be a student housing concern, but I want to make sure I have my facts straight before I post anything.
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permalinkI am offering general advice. Even government reads blogs, so don't let them have wiggle room if you are trying to prove a point.
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permalinkWhile I have been out of town and have not had much time to witness these students, I don't see them as the primary threat to Rose Lane, even though I prefer not to have students.
The threat to Rose Lane and the young children who live on the street is over-development and parking congestion on the commercial strip next to it where the parking lot is already full with several vacant retail stores all on one level.
With apartments allowed on top of retail or a restaurant for two levels under the new BMV zoning (and I find this zoning troublesome)the area will be a parking and traffic nightmare.
If these students are going away as you say, it is because the township sees no benefit in students, as opposed to the benefit of increased taxes through development that will ruin a nice little neighborhood while creating a danger for the young children of the neighborhood as cars already tear down private Rose Lane - and there will only be more vehicular traffic now, for which the BMV zoning does not seem to take into consideration.
You ask me, this BMV zoning is a free-for-all that never gave any real consideration for the communities adjacant to the new BMV zoning district.
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permalinkStudent housing is a way to devalue a neighborhood, so I do perceive it as a threat. And you are correct when it comes to all this zoning: it has NOTHING to do about communities at all. Government of course will deny this until the cows come home, but we all know what the truth is. I am also disturbed by meetings behind the scenes...what is going on that none of us know about?
Transit Oriented Development is fancy speak for we don't know where everyone will park and don't care, either.
We don't need so much development in our communities, but what do we know as regular people, we just live here?
It's all tied together and it's all about ratables and greed and writeoffs.
Someone who lives in the city now said to me the other day when they were out here that there seems to be more traffic out here than in the city, more cars, and oh, worse drivers then NYC and South Philly combined.
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