Blog Williamsburg

Letter to City Council from Resident

The following letter about the 3-Person Rule was sent from David Kranbuehl, a local resident, to City Council and forwarded to members of the Planning Commission.

“Dear Jeanne, Bobby,Paul,Clyde and Judy,
Last night Bill Dell, Stuart Goddin, Bill Hamilton, myself , [Councilman] Clyde [Haulman] and [Councilwoman] Judy [Knudson] met for in my opinion a very effective 65 minutes. Here is my short summary of the two essential conclusions.

First, it is essential that we form a four legged chair with the College and particularly the College President/administration working with City government, residents and students in maintaining/improving the residential atmosphere in the Richmond Road/Jamestown Road neighborhoods. A key aspect of that participation is help in having respect for and help in enforcement of the city’s regulations regarding rental housing.

We need to have each group, city officials, student leaders and residents to encourage the President and the BOV to become a positive participant in student renting houses issues in our residential neighborhoods. The College administration is a essential component of the community.

A critical step, is that the city works with the College to identify violating houses and individuals in ways which protect privacy and let students know abuse of city rental regulations will not be tolerated. The College requires every student to provide the actual address where they reside, hence that information if looked at identifies violations.Without this step of cooperation, resident College relations sink to a low and this discussion is pointless .

Hence enforcement of our rental regulations both existing and any changes is THE CRITICAL FIRST STEP.

The second conclusion is that this discussion should be turned over first to the Planning Department. They should have open forums where residents and students react to each draft of a working document and have discussions on how it would work/be effective. Only after several months of such meetings and revisions should a workable, agreeable, enforceable document be sent to the Planning Commission for more formal evaluation.

I believe this states clearly what is missing and needed. Others will which to add more.”

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