Rental amendment eliminates “party” houses
By Katherine R. Dougan
Complaints from residents in all wards prompted the City to amend the City of Clinton’s Mississippi Rental Housing Ordinance. Homes in all wards have turned into rental property, and with no restrictions on the number of occupants in a home, four to five or more college students rented residential homes, causing complaints of parties, noise and numerous vehicles in once-quiet neighborhoods.
“Overcrowding is a threat to public safety and the welfare of the occupants of the homes, as well as the neighborhood,” cites the amended ordinance. The amended ordinance includes Rental Housing Unit occupancy limitations that take into consideration the relationship of those occupying the household and the number of bedrooms, as well as set requirements for the sizes of space for living areas.
The revised ordinance allows for families to occupy a rental house, including multiple generations, but limits the number of boarders to two, defining families as being related by blood or marriage, with natural, foster, step or adopted children. Additionally, in non-family situations, rental units can only have four or fewer unrelated persons.
Further, the amendments place size requirements on living areas, based on the number of occupants of the rental unit. For example, with one to two occupants, a unit is not required to have a dining room, but must have fifty square feet of kitchen space and one hundred twenty square feet of living room. For a unit with three to five occupants, there must be eighty square feet of dining area, fifty square feet of kitchen area, and one hundred twenty square feet of living area.
Ward 6 Alderman Mike Cashion inquired about homes that have a combined kitchen-dining area or homes with an open concept that have the living, dining and kitchen space in an open area.
The total of the square footage for both, or all three rooms, would be added together to meet the square-footage requirements of the ordinance’s individual room square footage, explained Roy Edwards, Director of Community Development.
Clinton’s Board of Aldermen meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Courtroom at 305 Monroe Street.
