ONEONTA _ The city Zoning and Housing Board of Appeals is scheduled to decide next week on variances for two homeowners who wish to have more than three unrelated people living in their Center City properties.
Jason Gaddis, a State University College at Oneonta student, is applying for a use variance for the single-family home in which he lives at 32 Center St. SUCO professor Zanna McKay is also applying for a use variance for her home at 7 Normal Ave.
The city originally established a limit on unrelated people allowed to live in individual housing units when it instituted zoning in 1975, said former Code Enforcement Officer Peter Friedman on Wednesday.
At that time, five unrelated people were allowed to live in a dwelling. The limit was later changed to four, then to three in 1986.
A variance is required by the city for any property that does not conform to the zoning code. Dwellings with more than three unrelated inhabitants are considered rooming houses under the city zoning code. Rooming houses are prohibited in much of the city, where single-family homes predominate.
The original intentions of the limit, as well as lowering it to four and then three, were to ensure rental homes, especially student rentals, were compatible with the neighborhood and safe, Friedman said.
The more people living in a house, the more anonymity there is when it comes to determining who may be responsible for damaging the house or disrupting the neighborhood, Friedman said.
"It tends to be much more out of control," he said.
There are also concerns about fire safety for the occupants of homes with multiple, unrelated occupants, he said.
In his application for a variance, Gaddis cited economic hardship because his brother was moving out of his four-bedroom home, leaving him with a greater share of the bills.
In her application for a variance, McKay said her intention was to have her five-bedroom home not be recognized as a rental but be allowed to have four unrelated people live there while she is temporarily out of the country.
Both properties were listed as not having a valid certificate of compliance in October. Their current status was not available Wednesday night.
Friedman said he can't recall any successful applications for these types of variances since 1984.
Friedman said he is concerned that in allowing use variances, precedents could be set that could lead to a more difficult housing market for single-family homes.
There are several rental properties in the city that were grandfathered to allow four or five unrelated tenants after the zoning law was originally passed and when it was amended.
The applications will be discussed at the board's meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in City Hall.
