CSU students may petition for U+2 changes

Colorado State University’s student government president said Monday his organization is likely to petition Fort Collins voters for a new rental registration ordinance in an attempt to alleviate some of the effects of the city’s “you-plus-two” housing occupancy restriction.

“I think there is a bit of disconnect between what the City Council thinks we’re pursuing and what we’re actually pursuing,” said Jason Sydoriak, president of the Associated Students of Colorado State University. “I think they think we just want to get rid of you-plus-two, but as we’ve said before, that isn’t what we want to do, because we want to preserve the character (of neighborhoods) as much as we can.”

Mayor Wade Troxell and three of Fort Collins’ six City Council members were among a group of about 50 who attended a town hall meeting Monday concerning the oft-debated ordinance. Troxell, Ray Martinez, Ross Cunniff and Gerry Horak all addressed the assembled.

Students and community members aired grievances, and while the meeting didn’t seem to produce the exact direction Sydoriak was looking for from the students, he said it did come close to pushing one potential option, if not off the table, then at least to the edge.

“We’ll most likely not go through (City) Council,” said Sydoriak, who is also a member of the Coloradoan’s editorial board.

YOUR TAKE:Some want to reform, others want to keep “U+2”

PRO-CON: Fort Collins’ housing ordinance divisive still

Proponents say the city’s limitation on how many unrelated people can live in one residence were designed to keep single-family neighborhoods intact. The most direct impact of of the rule is felt by students renting off-campus housing while attending CSU or Front Range Community College.

Though on the books for more than 50 years, you-plus-two has only been seriously enforced since 2007, when penalties were shifted from criminal charges to civil penalties. This year, complaints of potential violations are expected to set a record of perhaps 160.

Sydoriak said wording is still being hashed out, but ASCSU would like to begin petitioning at some point this month to gather signatures in support of a rental registration system that would most likely link the number of certified bedrooms and availability of parking for a unit or house to the maximum occupancy of rental properties.

He said the decision hasn’t been made on whether to try to put the measure up for a special election in 2016 or to wait for the 2017 election.

“(A special election in 2016) is a very abrasive way, and it’s one way to say, ‘We don’t believe you are listening to us, so now is the time for drastic action to occur,” he said. “But we want to make this a collaborative effort, regardless of whether City Council is listening or not, so we’ll most likely go for 2017.”

For a special election in 2016, a total of 5,111 valid signatures would be required to put a a rental registry question on the ballot. For 2017, the number would be 3,407.

The city investigates all you-plus-two complaints and plans to begin a proactive patrol of the Avery Park neighborhood near campus beginning in January.

Enrollment at CSU continues to grow, while Fort Collins in general is seeing rising rental prices and limited housing options.

CONTROVERSY:CSU students push for ‘U+2’ reform

VIDEO:Enforcing U-plus-2

Cunniff, who represents District 5, which includes CSU, said Fort Collins has a house-pricing problem, not a student housing-price problem. He said the solution to frustration over you-plus-two is to add higher-density housing, allowed in some zones of the city, while keeping single-family neighborhoods intact.

“We could repeal you-plus-two tomorrow, and my prediction is that rent would not go down,” he said. “… This is a property owners-landlords market. They are charging what they can to maximize their profits — it’s the nature of American business. So if they’re able to rent to three people at $650 each (for $1,950 per month), when they are able to rent to a fourth person, they would charge another $650 (for $2,600, not $1,950).”

Horak, whose District 6 includes areas west of the CSU campus, noted CSU’s annual turnover and lack of on-campus housing.

“No one has mentioned the responsibility of Colorado State University for providing housing,” he said. “The amount of housing on campus isn’t substantially different than it was 20 years ago. No one (at the meeting) has pointed out the folks who have the real responsibility for providing housing for students.”

Martinez, from District 2, reiterated his belief that you-plus-two is discriminatory to students and low-income residents. He speculated, and a property owner who later addressed the meeting agreed, that over time rental prices would decline.

Said Sydoriak: “We’ll petition not just students but community members as well. We want them to be part of this conversation as well. And I believe there are plenty of community members with whom this message would resonate.”

Troxell said that since you-plus-two enforcement went into effect at the same time as noise ordinances and party registration, it’s hard to tell how effective it has been. Both sides of the issue took to that statement.

He gave moderate support to rental registration as a way to “right-size” rental housing.

“If we can understand neighborhood livability and consider the size of the house and we know the number of bedrooms, then I believe we can begin to right-size, if you will, that with respect to a house that’s a rental. … If we went in the direction of rental registration, I think we could do that sort of thing.”