Contrary to the current belief, there is no legislation being debated in front of the Syracuse Common Council to force additional students out of their off-campus houses.

More than 200 students, faculty, landlords and permanent residents filled a City Hall meeting room to more than capacity Thursday night. They debated the South East Neighborhood Association’s petition to limit the number of unrelated people signing a lease and living in an apartment or house from five to three.

Many Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students seemed to believe the Syracuse Common Council was considering such an amendment to the city’s zoning codes, but Bill Ryan, councilor at large, explained this is not the case.

There is no legislation of any kind being debated, and the council is not prepared to do anything anti-student, Ryan said.

The community polarized on whether density is a problem in the neighborhood east of campus at Thursday night’s public meeting. Few residents living outside the east neighborhood and Berkeley Park sought the floor, despite the fact such an ordinance would affect the entire city.

While there is currently no legislation before the common council, advocates for and against the zoning law amendment traded one-minute turns to persuade the council whether such a law could solve problems of trash, noise and parking. Most speakers were cut off by Kathleen Joy, councilor at large, who ran the meeting.

Because of the large turnout, those who wanted to speak were told to put their names on slips of paper, Joy said. The papers were then shuffled, and attendees were asked to the floor in groups of three, with one minute given to each speaker.

Student Association President Ryan Kelly said he expected more time with the floor in an interview after the meeting. Kelly prepared a four-page speech, which he said would have presented a united opposition to five-to-three legislation when coupled with the positions of ESF and the New York Public Interest Research Group, a student-run political organization.

Mike Stanton and Harry Lewis, president and treasurer of SEUNA, the primary group supporting such a law, did not directly state the association’s complaints.

Instead, Lewis, former president of SEUNA, listed a number of other cities in New York that limit the number of unrelated people in a home to three, including Albany, Cortland, Poughkeepsie and New Rochelle.

Similar legislation has been flawed because there is difficulty in defining a family or related people, said David Eade, local landlord and resident.

Only 500 to 600 students will be affected, Stanton said. He also provided a history of the neighborhood, explaining that historically, more students have lived on the east side of Westcott Street.

This figure contrasted with Eade’s, who said 1,200 to 1,500 students in the neighborhood will be affected.

Local residents said they feel density is definitely the issue. They said students often park on both sides of the street and don’t bring their trash to the curb on collection days. Some also argued that landlords don’t take proper care of their properties.

David Bennett, a history professor at SU who lives in Berkeley Park, described his neighborhood as a viable, handsome, single-family community. ‘But it is an island,’ he said.

Dan Smothergill, member of the SEUNA executive board, argued five-to-three legislature is merely bringing the old limit of five unrelated residents up to modern standards, now that every student has a car and a stereo.

One resident described the 900 block of Ackerman Avenue as ‘a student slum.’

SU and ESF students responded that density is not the issue at hand. Instead, they offered to work with residents of the neighborhood to combat trash and parking issues. Some argued that those landlords who are irresponsible should be held more responsible.

Though he opposes legislation, he sympathizes with its supporters, said Sam Eschenbrenner, senior political science major at SU, in an interview after the meeting.

Students should shovel their own sidewalks and pick up litter, he said. He also supported a bike lane on Euclid Avenue that would make parking on the side of the road illegal.

SA President Kelly, speaking on behalf of SU students, said legislation would only push students farther from campus. A new dormitory – to be completed in 2009 – will only decrease the already packed housing situation on campus.

Currently, 65 percent of students live in university-owned housing, he said. A SEUNA petition calls for SU to house 90 percent of students.

Rather than creating a new law, current laws on parking, trash and noise should be enforced, Kelly said. He suggested writing a proposal to the city asking for at least two more enforcement officers.

In an interview after the meeting, Kelly said he will go to a SEUNA meeting on March 7 to solve the issues in the neighborhood without writing a law aimed at density. Though student groups recognize that the underlying problems are the same, Kelly said he doesn’t want that to be twisted into support for legislation.

The University Neighborhood Partnership has addressed issues of trash and parking, said Paul Roth, a member of the group and senior at ESF. UNP is a group of university, city and neighborhood representatives which organized in 2004 in response to complaints from east neighborhood residents.

Roth asked why SEUNA pretends to care about students’ interests.

Ryan Suser and Dana Hill, speaking as NYPIRG representatives, also encouraged collaboration instead of legislation. Suser is a senior entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major at SU and Hill is NYPIRG’s project coordinator.

Landlords, though accused by residents and students of not taking care of properties, argued density is not an issue off campus.

The real issue is civility, said David Sutherland, a member of the Syracuse Property Owners Association and photojournalism professor at SU. Five-to-three legislation would drive property values down and likewise decrease the city’s tax base.

Eade, a local landlord, also threatened a tax increase, saying legislation could result in $45 million taken from property owners.

Before residents were allowed to speak, Charles Ladd, zoning administrator, said any zoning change would be enforced and limited by police power. New legislation should have a strong connection to an existing problem.

Published on March 1, 2007 at 12:00 pm