East Lansing Police Department on Aug. 29, 2015. Courtney Kendler/The State News
In a unanimous 5-0 vote on Tuesday night, East Lansing City Council approved an ordinence which effectively placed limitations on the number of bedrooms in multiple-family developments.
East Lansing’s continuing redevelopment, has sprouted multiple off campus living complexes. But the rise of so many complexes has the potential to stunt growth in other types of living complexes, such as family apartments, and senior housing, the council said.
Recently, East Lansing received two different applications for multiple-family dwelling houses that include seven bedrooms.
“There have been many inquiries from residents as to whether this type of multiple-family unit is sustainable and/or meets the intent of the Comprehensive Plan,” according to the staff report about the ordinance. “While a seven (7) bedroom multiple-family unit may be appealing to some students it is unlikely to be appealing to other demographic groups limiting its market now and in the future.”
Per recommendations in the staff report, it would hurt rather than help the economy if larger than four bedroom units were built.
A moratorium or a temporary prohibition on activity was placed on the development of multiple family dwellings wanting to build units with more than four bedrooms but that expired in August. Both applications for the seven bedroom multiple-family units were approved, the first by administration and the second by Special Use Permit.
Going forward, multiple family dwellings will be restricted to four bedrooms per unit. Projects seeking to add more than four rooms can apply for a special use permit to build units with more.
This will impact student housing options in the future as larger groups of people wanting to live together will have fewer options unless housing is created under special use permits.
There are already a multitude of housing options for students off campus, Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Beier said.
“That’s not what we want anymore in the downtown,” Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Beier said of the seven bedroom units. “I think we have plenty of places for students to live but if we’re going to build housing we want it to be used for more than just students.”
Another provision of the ordinance allows for these developments to be mixed marketplace which allow for student housing and senior housing in one building.
“You can have a building that has student housing, really nice student housing if you want and senior housing in the same building in different parts of the building so that’ll work out too,” Beier said.
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