Zoning board recommends grandfathering in proposed TCU overlay

The Fort Worth Zoning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to recommend that the city lower from five to three the number of unrelated adults who can live in a house in TCU-area neighborhoods zoned for single-family dwellings.

The commission also agreed to recommend exempting property owners who are already renting to more than three people from the new rule.

The unanimous vote to exempt, or grandfather, some property owners from the new ordinance restriction came after a mediation group — made up of neighborhood leaders, TCU administrators, investors and student government leaders — hashed out a compromise between opposing sides. Homeowners initially wanted the new restriction to apply to everyone immediately, and investors didn’t want the “overlay” plan in the first place.

In the beginning, “I [didn’t] want grandfathering, I was against all of it. And after many, many, many hours of detailed conversation, I feel like the mediation’s proposal is the best for all parties,” said Martha Jones, vice president of the Bluebonnet Hills Neighborhood Association and a member of the mediation group.

The proposed occupancy overlay would give property owners who have the legal number of tenants allowed under the current ordinance an exemption lasting forever unless the owner changes the use of the structure for more than 24 consecutive months.

The mediation group’s approval of the overlay was also contingent on setting up a rental registration program, which the group negotiated Wednesday night.

The occupancy overlay proposal is an attempt to restrict new five-bedroom houses built by developers who typically rent to college students. Residents of the neighborhoods around TCU say renting to groups of students brings traffic congestion, crowded parking, noise complaints, partying and trash.

Nick Genua, chairman of the zoning commission, also called for administrators of TCU to step up and create a program to teach students who live off campus how to be good neighbors.

“Whether we go from five people to one person, there is a behavioral component that comes into play here,” Genua said. “I think that given that over half the students that attend TCU live off campus, I really think if TCU wants to be a good community citizen, they need to do something.”

City zoning policies questioned

The conflict over grandfathering prompted Zoning Commissioners Wanda Conlin and Charles Edmonds to call for a review of the city’s grandfathering policies in general.

“The investors keep telling us how they obeyed all the rules. They did. They obeyed the letter of the law, but the spirit of what a single-family neighborhood is was not respected,” Conlin said. “These investors by their own admission brought business into a single-family neighborhood, and I think that is abominable. I hate that.

“I think the grandfathering … as a legal, nonconforming use should at some time have to be reapplied for. We have areas of this city that are suffering with rundown properties because they are legal, nonconforming, and it never goes away.”

Edmonds echoed her concerns, saying there are maybe “tens of thousands” of buildings that are grandfathered.

“They are things like industrial uses where there shouldn’t be an industrial use, commercial uses where there shouldn’t be a commercial use. Times change and we as a city have to figure out some way to accommodate that change and protect what we have,” he said.

Rental registration required

In a 12-1 vote, with one abstention, the mediation group agreed to a rental registration program for grandfathered properties that protects tenants’ privacy. But the group did not finalize details of how to monitor or enforce registration after a nearly three-hour meeting Wednesday night.

“We agree on registration, which is a major leap,” said Assistant City Manager Fernando Costa as the meeting wound down. The group has to come back next week to negotiate the details. Their last meeting was supposed to be Nov. 5.

The City Council is scheduled to consider the proposed overlay on Dec. 2.

In attempting to find common ground, Costa first warned the group to make a rental registration program that the city has the resources to enforce.

“Regulations are good only to the extent that they can be enforced. Otherwise, they are hollow and foster a disrespect for the law,” Costa said.

Some neighborhood leaders came to the meeting hoping the rental registration would be annual and require tenant names, phone numbers and license plate numbers.

Chris Powers, an investor in the area, and other investors adamantly opposed providing the personal information, including the names, of their tenants. If collected by the city, the information would become public record.

“That is a stalker or sexual offender’s dream, to be able to get hold of that information quickly,” Powers said.

This story was originally published November 12, 2014 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Zoning board recommends grandfathering in proposed TCU overlay ."