Dec. 17 – City officials will rely on developers and the public to enforce a new rental housing ordinance and definition of family approved Monday morning.
The Decatur City Council voted 3-1 to approve an ordinance on building new homes for the purpose of renting them out, while at the same time trying to define a family as related to housing occupancy. Councilman Hunter Pepper was absent from the meeting.
City Attorney Herman Marks said the ordinance will go into effect Jan. 1.
Councilman Billy Jackson said he is not opposed in theory to regulating the concepts of BTR and the definition of family, but he “sees no mechanism for enforcement,” especially the new definition of family.
“I’m just not in favor of putting anything on the books, not just this ordinance or any other, that can’t be enforced,” Jackson said.
McMaster’s proposal, which was approved Monday, defines family as “one or more persons related by blood, marriage, adoption or other legal relationship, living as a single household unit in a dwelling unit, including persons living in the unit living and working in healthcare. for a family member or three unrelated persons living in a residential unit as one household unit.
“A family may also consist of up to three unrelated persons occupying a unit and living as a single, non-profit household unit, if one or more of the three unrelated residents is disabled.”
McMasters said the existing ordinance’s definition of family was “incredibly vague,” with houses popping up halfway across the city.
He said community development inspectors would issue a warning and then issue a citation if the homeowner doesn’t follow the rules.
Marks said that person would then have to appear before Municipal Court Judge Takisha Gholston. If found guilty, the person must pay a fine of up to $500 and may face jail time. Citation penalties are determined by state law.
“This is about how Athene, Cullman or Hartselle would enforce it,” McMasters said.
Council President Jacob Ladner said he supports the new ordinance, but he also has concerns about enforcement. He pointed out that the city relies on neighbors reporting neighbors.
“If there are five or six people living in a house, how do you know if they are a family?” Ladner asked.
Ladner said one issue to consider is that the city is home to Calhoun Community College and the Alabama Center for the Arts, a partnership of Calhoun and Athens State University. He said students sometimes get together and rent a house.
“We may want to expand the number from three (unrelated) to five,” Ladner said. “In Florence, which has a larger university (UNA), there are five.”
Stratford Road Southeast resident Suzanne Johnson said she worked for two national construction companies and her job was to develop and find homes for their employees to rent.
Often, unrelated men and women, sometimes as many as five people, lived in the same rental house, she said.
“Landlords loved us because they knew the rent would be paid every month and they never had to worry about it,” Johnson said.
Johnson told the council she thinks they are trying to target a group of people.
Comparing this to the Haitian controversy in Athens, she told the council, “You’re getting all kinds of other people hurt who aren’t Haitians, Latin Americans or African Americans. You’re hurting a lot of people.’
She said she believes this ordinance will hurt business and traffic on the Tennessee River.
The more immediate concern — and more controversial in Decatur — is build-to-rent housing, as a city-imposed BTR moratorium expires Jan. 1.
‘BTR’ refers to subdivisions of attached or detached single-family homes intended for rental by a management company. Some developments are intended as BTR from the start.
More often, a BTR real estate company purchases plots or houses at some stage of the development process. BTR companies then sell the homes to tenants and manage the properties in much the same way an apartment complex is managed.
This happened in the Burningtree area in August 2022, when developer Prominence Homes purchased the third addition of the Foxwood Farms planned subdivision. This led to protests from local residents.
Burningtree residents want a complete ban. Although the ban did not apply to Foxwood, Prominence filed for bankruptcy and never completed the BTR subdivision.
The ordinance approved Monday requires a developer to sign a letter of intent with the Planning Department and obtain a variance from the Council for zoning adjustment.
This would apply to allotments of at least seven plots where at least 10% of the homes will be rented from the start. The developer would have to hire a management company within 30 miles of the site to oversee the rental properties and inform the city of which company has been chosen.
Councilman Kyle Pike said he supports the ordinance, but also thinks BTR “is a good product” that has a place in the city. He is also concerned about enforcement.
McMasters said after the meeting that the city trusts developers will be honest and inform the city of their plans for a BTR subdivision. He said that he likes the fact that they have to go to BOZA for a deviation, because there are some regulations.
Jackson said he understands Burningtree residents’ opposition because his District 1 is overrun with rental properties and absentee landlords. This makes it difficult for him to trust a developer or landlord, he said.
Ladner said he doesn’t think the city can enforce the BTR ordinance. He said the developer could sell the subdivision to a builder or investor, and there would be no limits for them if they wanted to go to BTR.
— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432
