Thursday, December 18, 2008

Riverdale City Clamps Down on Density

It seems like the suburbs are lining up to keep their communities in order. Riverdale City just changed its zoning rules to account for a "family" as three people living together. Their previous definition called for four. What this does is clamp down on the number of unrelated people living together as a "family". Imagine four college students shacking up in a single house. They each drive a car and have friends that visit frequently and intermittently. Things get quite busy at this house. Neighbors start to complain.

Ogden City instituted this type of change to its zoning years ago. It has clamped down on "families" of nefarious types living together. A house that I own as a rental has two bedrooms in it. Before I owned it, somebody walled in an entryway and made a "third" bedroom out of it. Three guys who didn't know each other each paid for a room. Occasionally friends of theirs would move in and live there for a while. This was a terrible situation with too many people living in one space. Space that was not intended for that type of use. Now the property is used by a single person and they make use of the home as it was meant to be.

Riverdale's ordinace is probably a reaction to the increased demand for rental properties. Landlords there are likely trying to capitalize from the situation and are therefore cramming people into tight spaces.

This ordinance, will put pressure on rents to increase. NOW is a good time to be a landlord.

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