The effects of the zoning ordinance

    According to an informal survey by The Colonnade, nearly one in six students will be directly affected by the new zoning ordinance that passed Tuesday, Nov. 14. The ordinance that was proposed nearly two months ago limits the number of unrelated people living in a single-family dwelling.
    GCSU students, as a whole, are opposed to the ordinance. Those who live in the historic district will have to move out of their current residences.
    Kristen Moore is a sophomore outdoor education major who lives on
North Clarke Street in a house across the street from Sodexho.  She lives with seven other girls, none of whom are related.  Since the ordinance passed, all eight of the girls will be forced to find another place to stay, despite the fact that the home is owned by one of their fathers.
    “I don’t think it’s fair or in our rights to kick us out of a house based on an age or based on family or what not,” Moore said.
    Some residents in favor of the ordinance say that college students in Milledgeville are irresponsible.  According to a 13 WMAZ news story on Oct. 24, Milledgeville resident Tony Brown said students’ presence is a threat to his property.
    “My investment is there [with the ordinance],” Brown said.  “I don’t like to look out at somebody’s trash cans and all their junk in the front of the house.”
    John Alton, another Milledgeville resident, told 13 WMAZ reporters he supports the ordinance because it will make Milledgeville a better community.
    “I want to preserve our community,” Alton said.  “I want our neighborhoods to be neighborhoods again.”
    Many GCSU students resist this notion of irresponsibility.  Beth Coughlin, a sophomore nursing major who will be affected by the ordinance, said she and those she lives with are not irresponsible.
    “We are not the college students who want to trash the house.  That’s not our main goal to rip it up, tear it up, do whatever we can, and live freely,” Coughlin said.  “It’s so much more than that.  It’s about caring for this university, caring for the people in it and making their experience better through this house, pouring out love to people.”
    Coughlin also said that the ordinance will impact prospective students who will consider attending GCSU.
    “The university is going to lose people because part of coming to Georgia College is coming into the community…not just being shoved into apartments,” Coughlin said. “Here we get to have our own house and be in a cute little historical community and have our own home.”
    With the new ordinance in place many students won’t have as much freedom in choosing where to live and whom to live with. Instead, they may find themselves house-hunting.

Information contributed by Alexis Dannelly and Rachel McKenna

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 17 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry