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The Planning Commission is working — at the direction of the city council — to revise ordinances to alleviate parking crunches around the university and assuage neighbors who complain that run-down rental housing, paved-over yards and sometimes raucous parties are tearing the fabric of their neighborhood.
The commission had discussed increasing off-street parking required for each rental unit but has since looked into permits that would limit daytime on-street parking to residents.
The commission will likely move ahead on lowering rental occupancy limits from five to three nonrelated
people per unit, said Planning Director Mark Moeller. However, commissioners will need to work with the task force to address an overall parking strategy as well as the possibility of limiting the number of rental units per block and other issues the committee might raise.
In December, the city council imposed a six-month moratorium on new rental licenses to give the commission time to revise city codes. Moeller said the moratorium might need to be extended because of the task force and the increased scope of the commission's revisions.
Several dozen students, university officers, a handful of neighbors and landlords gathered at city hall for the meeting.
Marianna Byman, a neighborhood resident who teaches at the university, said one rental house on her block houses five students but has no off-street parking; another with 12 residents has its yard paved over.
"Both of these are unacceptable situations," Byman said. "We should be able to have a core neighborhood that is decent and viable and still have students as neighbors."
The parking problem is primarily with daytime commuters, said Kevin Brady, co-chairman of the Winona Housing Association, an organization that represents about half the city's landlords.
He said aerial photos show streets packed with cars and empty spaces on campus lots.
Byman said she often sees cars with WSU permits parked in front of her Wabasha Street home.
Students said they don't use campus lots because they are not close enough to residence halls and classrooms.
Tess Arrick-Kruger, vice president of University Affairs, said at other campuses students routinely walk four to five blocks between classes within the campus.
Some students also complained about rental housing conditions, but noted they were willing to pay for substandard apartments to be near campus.
One landlord said that he had invested money fixing up an old house only to have renters tear it up.
Calvin Winbush, the university's vice president of Student Affairs who suggested the task force, said it will likely take multiple methods to solve the problem.
Reporter Chris Hubbuch can be reached at (507) 453-3511 or chubbuch@winonadailynews.com.
If you want to join the task force
Mayor Jerry Miller announced Tuesday that he would form a citizen task force to study parking and housing issues in the neighborhood around Winona State University. To volunteer, call 457-8234 or e-mail molson@cityhall.luminet.net.
