Agenda - Planning Commission - 09/07/2017

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c,nqwqVI V(/' 0 Purpose-built student housing in Minneapolis's Dinkytown neighborhood near the University of Minnesota. According to Ithaca's director of planning and development, JoAnn Cornish, the melding of form -based codes with student housing zon- ing has "given the city the power to mandate certain design and aesthetic principles to developers who are snapping up real estate at about$3 million an acre in ourCollegetown." The prescriptive standards in the form dis- tricts ensure that developers are clear about 'what the city expects. "They can't cheap out on design and materials just because they paid so much for the property," says Cornish. "That argument won't fly In Ithaca." Similarly, Tallahassee, Florida's Uni- versity Urban Village District is an overlay zone with a regulating plan (§10-2o5 & §io- 28o et seq.). According to Tallahassee -Leon County principal planner Artie White, AtcP, "The University Urban Village District has very successfully catalyzed the redevelop- ment of a largely vacant warehouse district located between two major universities, creating a walkable mixed use activity center that continues to attract significant private investment." White points out that, while the residential development is largely geared to students, the district's urban design guide- lines have helped shape the district "into a distinctive place with commercial and retail uses that are supported not only by stu- dents, but by the entire community." Define Student Housing There is a lot of law to be found in the defini- tions. Types of households can be defined to include or exclude off -campus student housing arrangements in various housing types, among them private dormitories, purpose-built multifamily student hous- ing, fraternity/sorority/cooperative living houses, and student rental homes. A "stu- dent residence" in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a living arrangement where three or four full-time or part-time students live together. The definition applies only in the Student Residence Overlay District, while the tradi- tional definition of family applies elsewhere (§13o3). In Newark, Delaware, a "student home" is limited to three students and then, in somewhat unusual fashion, the definition lists 28 streets or street segments where stu- dent homes are not permitted (§32-4.123.1). The same term is defined in State College, Pennsylvania, and then linked to restric- tive provisions in three residence districts (§19.B.2o1 & §19.D.501.1(6)). A "student dwelling" in Williamsburg, Virginia, is imprecisely defined as "a building containing three or more dwelling units located in close proximity to the campus of the College of William & Mary and designed to be occupied by students at the college" (§21-2). The regulations limit them to no more than two students in efficiency/one-bedroom units and up to four students in two or more bedrooms, only in the Urban Business District by special permit §21-355.1 & §21-354). As a condition of approval, applicants must either demonstrate that the dwelling is managed by the college or submit a management plan for upkeep and maintenance. You can find "student housing" defined so as to limit it to housing designed for student rental with a bathroom for each bedroom, and also in typical construction multifamily buildings with apartments of three or more bedrooms. In Orange County, Florida, there are also criteria for student housing developments that, among other things, require a Goo -foot separation from single-family uses measured from the prop- erty line and a six-foot masonry wall when the student housing is along a right-of-way (§38-1259)• Out west in Pueblo, Colorado, you will find "student housing" to be defined broadly as "a residence for occupancy by groups of people not defined as a family, where such building is specifically designed for students of a college, university, trade school or nonprofit ZONINGPRACTICE 8.17 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Ipage5