http://olszowka.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] olszowka.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] davis_square2015-03-14 10:17 pm
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Zoning change and occupancy limits

Recently, I received a letter in the mail from Neraj Tuli of Zone Smart Somerville (www.zonesmartsomerville.org).  The letter was urging me to oppose a provision in the proposed zoning changes which would prohibit occupancy of a house or unit by more than four unrelated adults regardless of the size of the house or unit or other mitigating factors.  Does anyone know anything about this?  I believe I am opposed to this provision, but would like to learn more.
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kelkyag: eye-shaped patterns on birch trunk (birch eyes)

[personal profile] kelkyag 2015-03-16 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
A limit on people per room or unit area would make more sense to me than a flat limit on unrelated people. (I knew one household of ten, many years ago, though they *bought* their house, which was a lot of paperwork but turned out to be a good deal for them.)

How would more than four people who aren't all related to each other be counted under this rule? Say, three married couples, or a parent with two children and three unrelated adult housemates?
cos: (frff-profile)

[personal profile] cos 2015-03-16 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
For three married couples, the largest set of unrelated people you can make is three, so that's under the limit as I understand this kind of rule. You could search for court cases to see if something like this has been challenged and a court ruled on how to interpret it.

[identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com 2015-03-19 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
A limit on people per room or unit area would make more sense to me than a flat limit on unrelated people.

There's a lot of status (and hence, housing price) based on the nature of the people living in an area. If there are a lot of communes in an area, house prices will be lower than if the houses are mostly occupied by nuclear families. The worst is if you have a place where a lot of lowish-income, relatively transient, single males live -- and there's been trouble in lots of places when some landlord realizes that the total rent from such a situation can be significantly higher than from a married couple and one and a half kids.
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