housing ordinance

The College of William and Mary will move forward to resolve the problem of insufficient student housing, according to The Daily Press.

This is welcomed news to homeowners in Williamsburg who have become concerned that students will ignore housing ordinances due to lack of on campus housing.

"In reaction to the lack of student-centered businesses and university housing, the College of William and Mary's Real Estate Foundation announced Friday their plans to break ground on a new student retail and apartment complex next summer.

The $5 million mixed-use project will be located between the Wawa convenience store and Williamsburg Baptist Church on Richmond Road. It will feature 14 apartments and 12,000 square feet of retail space, foundation officials said.

Architectural drawings unveiled Friday show the project will be confined to the three-story building and the first floor will be dedicated to retail stores, which will feature restaurants with outdoor seating. The top two floors will be apartments that will house 56 upperclassmen and be managed by the university's Office of Residence Life.

Brick sidewalks and landscaping will surround the building. There will also be a breezeway that will allow students access to Richmond Road directly from a parking lot that will be reserved for patrons.

Foundation officials will present these plans this month to the city of Williamsburg's Architectural Review Board. They are hoping to have the project completed by fall 2011."

Read the full story.

The proposal to allow up to four unrelated people live in the same house has been deemed ineffective by the Williamsburg Planning Commission, according to the Daily Press.

Increasing the number of persons allowed to live in a single house from three to four was thought of as a potential solution to housing for William & Mary college students. However, city officials have decided that is a band-aid solution to a large problem.

Another Planning Commission meeting will be held October 7th from 4-6 p.m.n the third-floor conference room of the Municipal Building, 401 Lafayette St.

Hopefully city officials, homeowners and college representatives will be able to find a solution that provides appropriate housing for students and alleviates the fears of some homeowners who are concerned about student rentals negatively affecting their home values.

"Just over a month after it began to circulate, a proposal to allow up to four people to live in the same house in Williamsburg seems to be dead in the water.

At a Planning Commission work session Wednesday afternoon, commissioners one by one panned the plan as unpalatable, ineffective and generally unenforceable.

City staff drew up the plan after months of discussion between stakeholders, including students, homeowners, city representatives and the College of William and Mary.

The city currently allows no more than three unrelated people to live in a rental house. The proposed ordinance would allow up to four people if certain restrictions are met.

That plan has gotten no love from dozens of speakers, many of them repeat participants, in a series of public forums held on the issue.

City Council last month sent the proposal to the Planning Commission for further discussion.

Wednesday, commissioners reached a consensus that the ordinance should be gutted of all references to upping rental occupancy caps. Definitions and other housekeeping aspects of the draft will be used to strengthen the current ordinance, though any decision by the commission must still pass muster at council."

Read the full story.