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Council directs staff to limit bedrooms in private student dormitories to four and sends amendment to planning commission
Summary
Columbia City Council voted to ask staff to draft a substitute amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that would limit bedrooms in private dormitory dwelling units to four and referred the change to the planning commission for review and a public hearing.
Columbia City Council on March 4 directed city staff to prepare a substitute text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that would limit the number of bedrooms in a private dormitory dwelling unit to four and to add any clarifying language needed, and it referred the draft to the planning commission.
Councilmember Brown moved the amendment, saying, “Rather than prohibiting the use in the MC and DAC zoning districts, the amendment shall limit the number of bedrooms in a private dormitory dwelling unit to 4 units along with any needed additional clarifying language.” The motion was seconded and passed on a roll call vote: Councilman Bailey voted no; Councilmember Brown, Councilwoman Heath Herbert, Dr. Bussell, Councilman Brennan, Councilman McDowell and Mayor Daniel J. Rickman voted yes.
The change modifies a resolution adopted by council on Feb. 18 that had sought a ban on private student dormitories in the Downtown Activity Center (DAC) and Mixed Commercial (MC) zoning districts. The council directed staff to prepare the substitute language and to refer the amendment to the planning commission for study; the planning commission is scheduled to consider the item on March 13 before a future city council public hearing and reading.
Councilmembers framed the amendment as an attempt to balance the needs of Columbia’s student population with neighborhood concerns about concentration of student housing downtown. Councilmember Brown said the limit is intended to “create some balance for the future,” while the mayor and other members described the referral as the next step in a public process that will include the planning commission and subsequent readings of an ordinance.
The council’s action invoked the “pending ordinance doctrine” as part of the process for moving the proposed changes through the Unified Development Ordinance (the city’s 1998 code of ordinances chapter 17 was cited in the staff memo). No specific implementation date was set; the organization of any final ordinance and any required public hearings will follow the planning commission review and the council’s formal readings.
What happens next: staff will draft the substitute text limiting bedrooms to four per private dormitory dwelling unit, the planning commission will review the draft on March 13, and council will schedule a public hearing and ordinance readings following that review.
