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A conditional use permit was denied Thursday to a Buena Vista homeowner who was leasing a singlefamily residence to more than four unrelated people in violation of the city’s zoning regulations.
City Council voted to reject Scott Thatcher’s request for a CUP that would have allowed five unrelated people to continue living at a house at 2345 Birch Ave. At a public hearing on Jan. 18 and again during Thursday’s citizens comments’ portion of the meeting, neighbors complained about parking and traffic problems as well as unruly behavior of the house’s residents.
“This is not just a Birch Avenue problem; it’s a citywide problem,” said Wayne Fitzgerald of 545 E. 23rd St., of student rental properties that he contends are having negative impacts on numerous residential neighborhoods in Buena Vista. Fitzgerald complained that the student renters’ cars block the alley and that they speed through the neighborhood and run stop signs.
“The kids have no respect for people in the community,” said Fitzgerald.
Thomas Akers of 2356 Birch Ave., a retired police officer who’s lived at his current residence 25 years, said he’s lived with the unpleasant circumstances of the student rental neighbors the past two years. He’s tried to rectify the situation by going to Southern Virginia University and the police department but without success.
He told of a recent encounter with one of the student neighbors who looked him in the eye from his car, then proceeded to roll down the car’s windows and turn up the volume of music in which a singer repeatedly used “a two-word Anglo-Saxon phrase that begins with the letter F.” Akers said, “The message [being conveyed] wasn’t missed.”
City Council members were in agreement that this particular house was not a good location for allowing more than four unrelated individuals to live in a singlefamily residence.
“We dealt with these problems back when I was on the Planning Commission,” said Todd Jones, who was participating in his first Council meeting since being appointed to fill a vacancy. “There are good locations [in which it would be proper to grant a CUP] but this is not one of them.”
Ronald Cash and Melvin Henson both said they opposed granting the CUP, based on the complaints they were hearing from neighbors.
Michelle Poloukis suggested that the home owner should be subject to fines since he was in violation of the zoning rules by renting the house to more than four unrelated individuals.
A motion by Steve Webb to deny the CUP was seconded by Cash and approved 7-0.
