CTroyMathis
11 November 2005, 04:15 PM
Bossy zoning request targets TCU students
By BUD KENNEDY
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Posted on Tue, Nov. 08, 2005
Visit: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/columnists/bud_kennedy/13111086.htm
Fort Worth's home team won the big championship game Saturday, and now everybody loves Texas Christian University.
Except, apparently, a few neighbors.
They never did want students or visitors parking on their street.
Or even driving on their street.
Now, they don't want any more TCU students renting there.
I have no idea why anyone buys a house near a growing university and then wants students kept away.
But that's exactly what is happening in the University Place neighborhood. Some bossy residents want to change their neighbors' zoning to stop anyone else from renting out a duplex or garage apartment.
For decades, TCU students have rented bungalows, duplexes and apartments all around the university, some among the pricey homes east of South University Drive and south of Park Hill Drive.
Now, some University Place residents want to put a stop to it.
They'll ask the Fort Worth Zoning Commission this Wednesday to change their neighbors' zoning against their will and prohibit future duplex townhomes and garage apartments.
In other words, if you can't afford to buy or rent a single-family home, then you don't belong in their neighborhood.
The proposal would even prevent homeowners along the east side of busy South University Drive from developing their own property for duplex townhomes, renting a new apartment or opening a bed and breakfast.
It would rob them of income and revoke free-enterprise rights that have been in place for 60 years.
"This is the first step toward discriminating against students," said Rebecca Lucas, owner of two such homes along University. "They think students are not worthy to live among expensive homes."
In the TCU school newspaper, the Daily Skiff, the neighborhood association's past president is quoted as saying that University Place isn't worried about students. What the homeowners are worried about, Bryan Livingston said, is "forces outside that are trying to change the neighborhood."
Developers might buy up lots and build inexpensive duplexes, he said. A Star-Telegram article Monday mentioned the outsized duplex townhomes that invaded some west side neighborhoods before that zoning was changed.
But Fort Worth has a law now preventing that. It's called a conservation district -- conserving the personality and character of a neighborhood and preventing bigfoot homes and townhouses.
But no. That's not what University Place wants.
University Place doesn't want anyone to ever rent out another duplex or apartment in the neighborhood.
I've been burned about University Place for a while now. It's also one of those neighborhoods near TCU where you can't park at all on some public streets.
I have never understood why our City Hall approved that.
There is no reason taxpayers -- students, grownups, anyone -- should not be allowed to park on at least one side of our street.
Just last May, I went to a University Place meeting. I was surprised to hear a new proposal to block West Cantey Street at Cockrell Avenue and cut off Cantey traffic from South University Drive.
That way, residents said, students wouldn't be able to take a shortcut through their neighborhood to University Drive and the west side of the campus.
Nor would anybody else.
Hey, it's not their street. It's our street. It belongs to the taxpayers.
As long as we drive and park safely -- and I want those laws enforced -- then we should be allowed to drive and park in the TCU neighborhoods.
The TCU Skiff is doing a good job of reporting this story.
The Skiff has been honest about how some students are not always good neighbors.
The city police officer in one neighborhood near the campus -- not University Place -- is quoted as saying that he writes 50 parking tickets a day and has responded to 20 noise complaints in a month.
Some students, the officer is quoted as saying, were in the front yard "screaming and hollering, urinating in yards, throwing trash and breaking windows."
No wonder some of TCU's neighbors are worried about new duplexes or apartments.
I've also heard from homeowners all around the university lately who are concerned that students are renting or buying expensive homes and then bringing in a lot of roommates.
Obviously, I'm not in favor of noise or overcrowding or unusual yard watering.
I just think a good student should be able to rent a duplex or an apartment.
Don Mills, a TCU vice chancellor, said the university neither supports nor opposes the University Place rezoning plan.
"It's important to TCU that the neighborhoods around the campus be as high-quality as possible," Mills said.
"In many of those, we certainly think there should be places where students can rent a house, rent a garage apartment, whatever the city sees as appropriate."
TCU's primary complaint from neighbors is overcrowding, he said, and "too many cars and too many social functions."
Neighborhoods should have a way to solve those problems one by one, he said.
One of the University Place residents who called back Monday is James Smith, a block captain.
"Most of the people in this area just want to do whatever we can to preserve our little neighborhood," he said. "We want to do whatever we can to retain its charm."
For years now, TCU students have been part of that charm.
By BUD KENNEDY
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Posted on Tue, Nov. 08, 2005
Visit: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/columnists/bud_kennedy/13111086.htm
Fort Worth's home team won the big championship game Saturday, and now everybody loves Texas Christian University.
Except, apparently, a few neighbors.
They never did want students or visitors parking on their street.
Or even driving on their street.
Now, they don't want any more TCU students renting there.
I have no idea why anyone buys a house near a growing university and then wants students kept away.
But that's exactly what is happening in the University Place neighborhood. Some bossy residents want to change their neighbors' zoning to stop anyone else from renting out a duplex or garage apartment.
For decades, TCU students have rented bungalows, duplexes and apartments all around the university, some among the pricey homes east of South University Drive and south of Park Hill Drive.
Now, some University Place residents want to put a stop to it.
They'll ask the Fort Worth Zoning Commission this Wednesday to change their neighbors' zoning against their will and prohibit future duplex townhomes and garage apartments.
In other words, if you can't afford to buy or rent a single-family home, then you don't belong in their neighborhood.
The proposal would even prevent homeowners along the east side of busy South University Drive from developing their own property for duplex townhomes, renting a new apartment or opening a bed and breakfast.
It would rob them of income and revoke free-enterprise rights that have been in place for 60 years.
"This is the first step toward discriminating against students," said Rebecca Lucas, owner of two such homes along University. "They think students are not worthy to live among expensive homes."
In the TCU school newspaper, the Daily Skiff, the neighborhood association's past president is quoted as saying that University Place isn't worried about students. What the homeowners are worried about, Bryan Livingston said, is "forces outside that are trying to change the neighborhood."
Developers might buy up lots and build inexpensive duplexes, he said. A Star-Telegram article Monday mentioned the outsized duplex townhomes that invaded some west side neighborhoods before that zoning was changed.
But Fort Worth has a law now preventing that. It's called a conservation district -- conserving the personality and character of a neighborhood and preventing bigfoot homes and townhouses.
But no. That's not what University Place wants.
University Place doesn't want anyone to ever rent out another duplex or apartment in the neighborhood.
I've been burned about University Place for a while now. It's also one of those neighborhoods near TCU where you can't park at all on some public streets.
I have never understood why our City Hall approved that.
There is no reason taxpayers -- students, grownups, anyone -- should not be allowed to park on at least one side of our street.
Just last May, I went to a University Place meeting. I was surprised to hear a new proposal to block West Cantey Street at Cockrell Avenue and cut off Cantey traffic from South University Drive.
That way, residents said, students wouldn't be able to take a shortcut through their neighborhood to University Drive and the west side of the campus.
Nor would anybody else.
Hey, it's not their street. It's our street. It belongs to the taxpayers.
As long as we drive and park safely -- and I want those laws enforced -- then we should be allowed to drive and park in the TCU neighborhoods.
The TCU Skiff is doing a good job of reporting this story.
The Skiff has been honest about how some students are not always good neighbors.
The city police officer in one neighborhood near the campus -- not University Place -- is quoted as saying that he writes 50 parking tickets a day and has responded to 20 noise complaints in a month.
Some students, the officer is quoted as saying, were in the front yard "screaming and hollering, urinating in yards, throwing trash and breaking windows."
No wonder some of TCU's neighbors are worried about new duplexes or apartments.
I've also heard from homeowners all around the university lately who are concerned that students are renting or buying expensive homes and then bringing in a lot of roommates.
Obviously, I'm not in favor of noise or overcrowding or unusual yard watering.
I just think a good student should be able to rent a duplex or an apartment.
Don Mills, a TCU vice chancellor, said the university neither supports nor opposes the University Place rezoning plan.
"It's important to TCU that the neighborhoods around the campus be as high-quality as possible," Mills said.
"In many of those, we certainly think there should be places where students can rent a house, rent a garage apartment, whatever the city sees as appropriate."
TCU's primary complaint from neighbors is overcrowding, he said, and "too many cars and too many social functions."
Neighborhoods should have a way to solve those problems one by one, he said.
One of the University Place residents who called back Monday is James Smith, a block captain.
"Most of the people in this area just want to do whatever we can to preserve our little neighborhood," he said. "We want to do whatever we can to retain its charm."
For years now, TCU students have been part of that charm.