City to enforce district zoning

     It has been a hot topic of debate for the past two years to speak of the action taken by the City of Milledgeville to restrict certain residential areas to allow no more than three unrelated people to reside in a single home. This is commonly referred to as   “The Ordinance,” as if it were a looming beast coming to pillage away certain enjoyment from the free life of college students. In fact, this was not the idea behind the adopted ordinance amendment when it was signed two years ago.
     Ordinance 0-0609-025, or otherwise, the amendment to ‘The   Land Development Code of the City of Milledgeville, Georgia’ was adopted on Nov. 14, 2006, stating that in exactly two years’ time restrictions on the number of unrelated persons residing in houses zoned for single-family residences only would be enforced. This means that starting this November, anyone living in a home that is located in a single-family residence zone with more than two other people that are not legally related to him or her will be considered not in compliance with the ordinance.
     The written ordinance implies that its purpose is to protect families’ rights to peace and quiet, as stated that “the City finds that excessive numbers of unrelated persons dwelling in single-family housing creates noise, traffic, and gatherings that often conflict with family life.” It goes on to further define the meaning of family and family life.
     Mervin Graham, the zoning administrator for the city’s Zoning and Planning Department, insisted that the ordinance is more an attempt to aid and protect families and family life rather than a stab at local college students.
     The ordinance cites the U.S. Supreme Court case Village of    Belle Terre v. Borass, 416 U.S. 1 (1974) in saying that the city would like to uphold the idea that single-family zones are places “where family values, youth values and the blessings of quiet seclusion and clean air make a sanctuary for people.”   This case of precedence legally provides grounds for the City of Milledgeville to enforce the ordinance, mainly because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a similar case in the past.
     There are too many roads to list all that are affected, but some general areas that are affected include Carrington Woods neighborhood, many residential roads linked to Carl Vinson highway, parts of the downtown historic district, as well as various other locations inside the city limits.
     According to Graham, much time and careful effort was put into researching similar city ordinances in other cities with the same issue, such as Athens. She said that other cities have also taken such action to “protect the health, safety and welfare of its residents and families,” as the written ordinance clearly states is its purpose.
     One rumor that can be dispelled is that apartment buildings within the single-family zones will be affected. According to Graham, this is not true, “those buildings have been there, and always will be there, even before this idea of zoning happened.” This means that even apartment buildings that at one time were large houses and then were converted into apartments will not be affected, as long as the house continues to be divided into individual units.
     How will city officials know how many unrelated people are actually living in a single home, you may ask yourself?  According to the written amendment ordinance, city officials will be able to track and enforce the number of unrelated residents in homes by using what is called ‘prima facie proof.’   This kind of proof “is established in any prosecution for violation of this Section (4.4) if it is shown that the same four or more vehicles with registration to persons having different surnames and addresses were parked overnight at the dwelling unit a majority of nights in any twenty-one day period,” states the ordinance.
     In other words, city officials can track the registration ownership of vehicles, and the number of actual vehicles parked at a residence for many overnight stays during an extended amount of time to determine who is not in compliance with the ordinance. It is unclear whether there will be other ways in which the number of residents is determined in the future.    Landlords, and homeowners will primarily be responsible for maintaining a complying number of tenants and persons registered or paying rent at each dwelling.
     It will be of interest to students seeking off-campus residences for the fall 2008 semester to check with the Zoning and  Planning Department located downtown, next to the City Hall main building, for detailed information on which areas, streets and neighborhoods are affected by the ordinance.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 25 2008. 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