Students still say their concerns ignored
Jan 22, 2008 - 10:56 AM
By Jillian Follert
OSHAWA -- After being given strict orders not to cheer or jeer, many in the audience at Monday night's student housing meeting simply shook their heads in frustration as councillors dove into the latest round of debate.
"They still haven't listened to us, none of the student's concerns are present in the changes they made," said Fraser McArthur, Student Association president for Durham College and UOIT. His biggest concern is where students will live if a bedroom cap is implemented for rental houses.
On the other side of Sikorski Hall, a homeowner wearing a sign that read "landlords take your $$'s elsewhere, this is our investment," threw up his hands in disbelief as politicians tossed ideas back and forth.
The "us verses them" mentality was more evident than at previous meetings, with a display of "student housing vs. family housing" posters set up near the front door and children hoisting signs that read "please keep me safe."
Homeowners wearing red shirts sat together on one side of the room, representing about half of the roughly 300 people in attendance.
Since October, the City has held two public meetings to gather feedback on a bylaw to regulate rental housing near campus.
On Monday, council's development services committee voted in favour of the most recent draft of the bylaw -- and added a few tweaks of their own.
Rental houses will still be limited to four bedrooms, but those on Dalhousie Crescent and Concordia Court will be allowed six bedrooms for a period of three years after the bylaw is passed, while those on McGill Court can have six for a period of two years.
Politicians also scrapped a ban on basement bedrooms. They will be permitted as long as they are up to code and don't take up more than 40 per cent of a basement's floor space.
The rest of the bylaw got a green light. Landlords renting out houses near campus will have to obtain an annual licence from the City at a cost of $250 and be required to submit property maintenance and parking plans before being approved.
"In the end, we think this will be workable," said David Bray, on behalf of the Windfields Farm Community Association. "We recognize there has to be give and take and we think it's necessary to stick with the four bedrooms, but we're OK with having six on those three streets that are already mostly student housing."â?¨ The bylaw and amendments still need final approval from council. A special meeting is expected to be scheduled for sometime in the next two weeks.
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