Plan Commission approves 828 Cherry Street rooming house CUP with conditions after neighborhood objections

City planning staff recommended approval of a conditional-use permit on April 27 for a proposed rooming house at 828 Cherry Street, limiting sleeping capacity to 20 and attaching buffering and parking conditions described in the staff report.

Staff review: Planning staff explained the municipal code definitions and standards for rooming houses and dormitory-like uses (referencing section 44-1581 and 44-1584 in the staff discussion). The applicant originally proposed capacity for 25–31 people; staff constrained the recommendation to a 20-person maximum based on building area, sleeping-area and bathroom ratios, and an initial parking analysis that uses a one-space-per-bed standard pending final site-plan review.

Key conditions recommended by staff, and accepted in the motion to approve, included: a 20-person bed limit; one parking space per bed to be demonstrated in a final site plan (staff estimated a maximum feasible onsite stall count around 18 but said final determination requires full site design); a six-foot, 100%-opaque fence and a five-foot landscape buffer along the southern and western property lines; and a 15-foot buffer where parking abuts a sidewalk. Staff also emphasized that any programmatic change (for example, adding on-site recovery services or staffing that would change the use beyond a rooming house) would require a new CUP amendment.

Neighborhood concerns: Several nearby residents and neighborhood leaders spoke in opposition or with concern. Kevin Plotty asked for a physical buffer because the proposed parking lot directly abuts his backyard. Neighborhood association president Garrett Bader said the neighborhood has seen multiple congregate-living uses in a concentrated area and urged commissioners to consider whether this site is the right location. Justin Scott and other residents said they have invested in neighborhood revitalization and worried a new congregate-living site could impede that work.

Commission discussion and vote: Commissioners asked staff whether the proposed use differs from other congregate-living types (e.g., shelters, CLAs) and whether existing nuisance or police-call data show problems in the area. Staff said available data did not show a pattern that would, on its own, defeat the CUP and reiterated that the use as proposed is residential (rooming house) and does not include on-site treatment services. A motion to approve staff’s recommended conditions passed by voice vote; the transcript records at least one member voting "nay." The item will move to Common Council for final action on May 5.

What’s next: If the Common Council approves the CUP with the same conditions, the permit will allow a 20-bed rooming house at 828 Cherry Street subject to the buffering, parking and site-plan requirements described by staff. Any increase in beds or addition of programming beyond rooming-house services will require an amended CUP.