My name is Patty Merrill and I am the President of the Westhampton Citizens Association.
I want to briefly highlight a topic that is worthy of discussion by the Zoning Advisory Committee. Under our existing zoning, we achieve limitations on the occupancy of a dwelling unit, in part, through the definition of “family” which applies to “persons living together as a single housekeeping unit” and, among other things, limits the occupancy of a dwelling unit to 3 unrelated individuals.
Code Refresh has eliminated the definition of family and, in doing so, has eliminated both the requirement that the group of people are living together as a single housekeeping unit and any limitation on the number of unrelated people living together.
Under Code Refresh, “household living” means “residential occupancy of a dwelling unit by a household. A household is considered one or more persons living together in a dwelling unit, with common access to, and common use of, all living, kitchen, and eating areas within the dwelling unit. Tenancy is arranged for 30 days or more.”
As for a limitation on occupancy of unrelated people in such household, you have to go to the definition of group living which starts at 9 unrelated people. Accordingly, one can deduce that the limit for household living is 8 unrelated individuals.
To date, I have been primarily focused on the alleged incremental density generated by number of dwelling units on a lot, particularly in single family detached neighborhoods. However, this suggests we also need to be very focused on the potentially exponential additional density resulting from the permitted number of unrelated people living in each dwelling unit.
I have done some informal research of other Virginia jurisdictions with a focus on those jurisdictions who have recently revised their zoning. The standard appears to be approximately 3 to 4 unrelated individuals. I would strongly advocate that Richmond adopt something similar. I would also like for Richmond to reintroduce the concept of “living together as a housekeeping unit” to reduce the potential for dwelling units being converted into rentals where no one appears to be responsible for the property and it is difficult to identify, let alone reach, the landlord.
Thank you.