Various housing and property issues, including rental license applications and house sitting, will be discussed at the East Lansing City Council’s work session tonight.
House sitting is permitted for up to two years during a five-year span, but the council is looking for a way to extend the time limit in light of specific circumstances, said Annette Irwin, operations administrator for code enforcement.
“This change would allow for the owner to explain what they are doing and extend that normal two-year period,” Irwin said.
If the resident planned on doing missionary work or taking a sabbatical for two years while relying on a house sitter but ended up staying longer, the proposed ordinance would allow the resident to request an extension from the Housing Commission, she said.
The commission would then be able to approve an extension.
When the time limit is violated, residents currently are left with three options, Councilmember Nathan Triplett said.
They can sell the property, keep up with the carrying costs of the home and not live in it or apply for a Class III rental license, he said.
“The basic idea is that there are certain situations that don’t lend themselves to permanent rental licenses,” Triplett said.
The potential change does not threaten the regulation of properties that might violate the ordinance as a way to rent illegally, he said.
“It’s a narrow solution for a narrow problem,” Triplett said.
“(There is) not a great deal of risk in terms of the neighborhood stability associated with it.”
Balance between rentals and permanent residences also is maintained by the current overlay district ordinance.
Overlay districts are areas in which certain rental licenses are not allowed, depending on the degree of restrictions.
Currently, a resident’s application for a rental license can be blocked by a proposal for an overlay district in that neighborhood, even if the rental license application was already accepted by the city.
A proposed change to the ordinance, to be discussed today, would prevent such an action and allow the continuation of the rental license application process and approval, Councilmember Roger Peters said.
“There has been some concern that there’s an element of fairness in those instances that this proposal addresses,” he said.
Council also will discuss a requirement for those distributing overlay district petitions.
The ordinance would require petitioners to distribute information pamphlets regarding overlay districts in the concerned area, Councilmember Kevin Beard said.
“We have heard some very disturbing stories about what (residents) were told when the petitioners came to the door,” he said.
Requiring information to be handed out would be beneficial when making a decision about signing the petition, Beard said.
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“It made some of them very nervous, and some signed it when, if they had known more, maybe they wouldn’t have,” he said.
All of these issues are part of the questions college towns face regarding rental and permanent housing, Beard said.
“We are trying to be respectful of the pressure that is placed on us as a community by having a major university in our midst, and that brings some unique challenges,” he said.
“We’re trying to find an appropriate balance.”
The council will have its work session at City Hall, 410 Abbot Road.
