Syracuse University-area landlord Francis Koon is currently suing the city of Syracuse over a law that requires rentals in the SU area to have one parking space per bedroom. His case will be heard on Oct. 9.

The law does not affect any houses currently owned by landlords. It deals only with houses that could be purchased by landlords in the future.

Koon and other landlords argue that the law, which was voided in court this January, limits student housing opportunities and shouldn’t be enforced. But a local neighborhood organization and the city say it’s made for safety reasons and prevents the conversion of single-family homes into rentals for students.

Koon said he applied to rent the property before the 2007 law.

The law states that permanent houses are only eligible for landlord purchase if the number of occupied bedrooms equals the number of available parking spots.

Koon’s lawsuit is separate from one in January, when landlords sued the city over the law and won. But the city appealed, and its law officials said they will continue to enforce the law during the appeals process, said Rory McMahon, the city’s corporation counsel. A decision will come in early 2010.

The landlord law was created to combat an increasing amount of students with cars, which led to parking congestion on streets, said Syracuse Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Joy.

‘It’s not anti-landlord; it’s not anti-student,’ Joy said. ‘We’re really looking for the health and safety of people living in the housing.’

Most university-area homes were built before 1960 and a considerable number before 1939, said Andrew Maxwell, senior neighborhood planner for Syracuse. Most of the buildings weren’t meant to be student housing, Joy said.

The state Supreme Court ruled against the landlord law because of a mishandling of an environmental code. Syracuse officials argued the court rejected only this, not the law’s actual guidelines.

It wouldn’t be the first time the city has won an appeal after initially losing a case in court. A similar situation occurred when the city was sued over a nuisance party ordinance, McMahon said. The city won that case.

If the appeal holds, landlords won’t be able to convert most remaining owner-occupied homes in the Euclid Avenue-area to rentals for students because the old-aged homes can’t meet the requirements.

Past rules enforced only one parking space per rental unit. Now, students could have to look elsewhere.

‘Students are going to have to widen their scope,’ Koon said. ‘It’ll make more distance for them to commute.’

Landlord Ben Tupper said if the law is upheld, landlords won’t purchase houses they originally would have.

That means students could add several blocks on their walks to campus as they move farther and farther away, said Tupper, who rents 42 houses in the area.

He said there would never be a case when there’s not enough student housing, but argued the real goal of groups pursuing the law was to lower the number of students living in the university area.

‘If it’s not discriminatory, it’s illegal,’ Tupper said of the law.

Tupper is critical of the permanent residents still working to keep long-term families in the university area.

‘It’s not their neighborhood anymore,’ Tupper warned, arguing the ‘cranky minority’ of homeowners in the area was being hypercritical in trying to remove a student body from a university that’s the number one employer in Syracuse.

‘I don’t blame the city at all,’ Tupper said. ‘You do what the noisiest groups yelling in your ear ask you to do.’

University-area residents said they support the law because they want families to move back in the area. There’s been an acceleration of families leaving their homes in the SU area, said Michael Stanton, president of the Southeast University Neighborhood Association.

‘The more rentals you get on the street, the less interested they become,’ Stanton said.

Stanton argued undergraduate students don’t keep up properties like families. He said he wanted to create a mix of families and rentals that was sustainable for both sides.

The law might have some advantages for students, too, said Harry Lewis, SEUNA treasurer. Landlords would improve conditions of the homes they already own since they won’t be able to purchase more, Lewis said.

He added that new apartment complexes luring students, like the University Village Apartments at Colvin on South Campus, also play a part.

‘The landlords will have to start stepping up in providing new amenities for the students,’ said Lewis, who has lived on Lancaster Avenue for 50 years.

Lewis also emphasized that living off campus was an educational experience in which students learned to live outside of college by interacting with permanent residents and following university and city rules.

mcboren@syr.edu

Published on September 28, 2009 at 12:00 pm