Advertisement
The ordinance limits city blocks to 30 percent rental properties, so property owners who want to rent out homes on saturated blocks need variances, a request that typically goes to the city’s Board of Adjustment.
The city council now plans to bypass the board, sending all variance requests to the 30-percent rule straight to the council.
“Some feel that the policy is a significant one, and rather than getting the board involved in it, (requests) would go directly to council,” said city planner Mark Moeller. Moeller said the idea came from city staff and not from council members.
If the change is approved, homeowners would face a council that has not once allowed a departure from the rule, which the council approved in December 2005 following months of debate.
Tony Stango, the Board of Adjustment chairman, said he’s not concerned that the requests will no longer come before his board.
“The city has made it very clear that they do not want saturation in blocks,” he said, “so I don’t think it really matters where (the appeal) goes, as long as that’s the goal.”
Stango is the lone holdover after five board members resigned in June to protest the council’s decisions to overturn several variances it had granted, including some to the 30-percent rule.
The board handled a series of appeals to the 30-percent rule in the months after it was approved, and granted a pair of them. The city council overturned both — as well as four other variances — after third parties appealed.
Moeller said that no one has asked for a variance to the 30-percent rule since the board’s mass resignation. The seven-member board is back to full strength after the council made a series of appointments in late 2006.
The 30-percent ordinance aims to cut down on population density, noisy parties, deteriorating houses and parking problems in the city, specifically around Winona State University.
Its effects won’t be noticed for some time, because all current rentals were grandfathered and rental licenses are transferred when homes are sold. Blocks with more than 30 percent rentals won’t change unless owners fail to renew their license or decide to stop renting.
The city’s planning commission will hold a public hearing May 14 on the proposed ordinance change and then vote on whether to recommend approval to the city council.
Reporter Brian Voerding can be reached at (507) 453-3514. or at bvoerding@winonadailynews.com
