Thursday, October 18, 2007
Dustin’s room is slowly becoming more empty. The first thing to leave was a much overdue bag of trash. All of his clothes followed out the door and into his car. All of this must be done because the city of Lawrence is coming to inspect the house in a couple of days. Like many campus houses, there are more people living there than allowed by zoning. So by morning, Dustin has to make his room look like no one lives there, and tomorrow no one will. The city is coming to inspect and follow up on a couple complaints that have been lodged about the house.
This is a problem that students could quickly find themselves facing. The rule in Lawrence is that no more than three unrelated people can live in a house together. This is a rule many houses around campus break. But if someone down the street complains once or twice, the city is required to follow up on it and inspect the outside of the house. If you have more than three people living together, it could spell trouble for someone. Knowing a couple of simple things can help avoid this situation.
This problem might have been avoided by simple communication. Dustin and his roommates hadn’t met most of their neighbors. So their first communication with some of their neighbors, through an intermediary, was nasty; his neighbors didn’t want to live next to Dustin and his roommates.
There were a couple different complaints logged all at the same time, says their landlord, Doug Billings. Some of the complaints were simple, like trash and brush in the yard. Another complaint was logged about an empty trash can left out for more than 24 hours, a complaint that some of Dustin’s neighbors got as well. The final and most important complaint was that there was a suspicion that too many people lived in the house. This is the complaint that could most directly affect students. If someone lodges a complaint suggesting too many people are living in a house, the City Zoning Commission quickly follows up to investigate. The zoning commission goes to the house in question; if someone answers the door, they can then go in and inspect the house to see how many people they think live there. The inspectors came to Dustin’s house, but nobody answered the door.
Brian Jimenez, city code enforcement manager, says that people need to be informed about possible problems to avoid them. Some renters and landlords don’t know about the rule restricting the number of unrelated people in a house to three, Jimenez says. So the city usually gives them 30 days or a reasonable amount of time to comply with regulations. If too many people live in the house some might have to move out.
Complaints from neighbors can also bring city officials to inspect a house. When someone complains to the city about a neighboring house, the city will go and inspect only the exterior, but if they see violations, they can act on them, Jimenez says. The city receives hundreds of varied complaints a year.
“There is a vast spectrum of types of complaints we get,” Jimenez says. Some of those complaints include trash in the yard, failing to maintain the yard or complaints about the condition about the exterior of the property.
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