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Narragansett takes steps to limit student rentals


The Narragansett Town Council voted to take new steps to limit student rentals. (WJAR)
The Narragansett Town Council voted to take new steps to limit student rentals. (WJAR)
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Leaders in Narragansett are considering changing the rules for college students looking for a place to live.

The Narragansett Town Council voted unanimously 5-0 Monday night to have the planning board take a lot at the amended zoning ordinance.

That ordinance would limit the number of unrelated college students living in one dwelling to three people.

Assistant Solicitor Andrew Berg wrote the amended ordinance on behalf of the council.

"He took a look at what happened in Providence and created one on our behalf," said Town Councilor Jesse Pugh. "We've seen over the years our family population start to go down, our enrollment in the school has gone down, something we need to do something about."

The proposed amendment would apply everywhere not just in certain zones or neighborhoods.

It would be for any dwelling, regardless of size, and would apply to a college student or university renting in Narragansett.

Pugh said right now, they've written the proposal to only allow three students per dwelling, but they could change the language and allow four.

"If we do three, it's going to be more effective as a policy, but it's a little bit more extreme," said Pugh. "We have to see what the balance is. This is about trying to form a better balance in town and increase the inventory of house for families."

The proposed change could mean trouble for college students looking for a place to live.

Last week, the University of Rhode Island announced it would reduce dorm capacity of its residence halls by 1,800 spaces in response to coronavirus restrictions.

Primarily, upperclassmen at URI rent homes in Narragansett and commute to school.

"The timing of it is definitely a little bit unfortunate with the announcement from URI about limiting their student housing," said Pugh. "If you have a lease and you're signed for this year, if you're five students and you're already signed onto a lease in Narragansett this won't affect you."

Pugh said everything would take about a month to get situated. The planning board would weigh in, public hearings would have to happen, and then there would be two readings of the amendment.

"We’re not trying to punish college kids," said Pugh. "This is about our town, what we do hope is some people do decide to sell it and we will get a family that buys that house and we increase the family population in town."

The news was hard hitting for Tom Morrill, the owner of Narragansett Properties.

His company pairs students with rental homes in Narragansett. Since the news of URI cutting on-campus housing and this, he said his phones have been ringing off the hook.

"We've been going crazy trying to find places for kids," said Morrill. "We've been getting sorts of calls every day."

Morrill said his agency works with about 275 rental properties.

"If the council does this, that will take 25% of the available housing right off the market," said Morrill. "Right now, we have all of our houses filled and leases on all of them."

"The average is 4 people per house, but we have a number of houses that are 1, 2, 3 but some have more," he added.

Morrill said he moved to Narragansett about 20 years ago after falling in love with the state.

Accepting the fact that college kids live in the town comes with the territory, one some people would like to change.

"We have three of the largest beaches right here in Rhode Island, how are you going to turn that into a family type of town we are a beach town there's just no way around it," he said. "All of these restaurants are just dying right now it'll be years before they recover, and if you take that many students out of Narragansett they're going to suffer for that much longer."

Jenna Balasco is a junior at URI. She signed a lease last November to live off campus in Narragansett.

"I woke up this morning and my friends all over Facebook were panicking," said Balasco. "When it comes to living off campus, this is some people's only option and to now say you can only have three people that limits houses some houses have six people eight people, I think a lot of people are nervous and want more answers."

Balasco said she went on YouTube and watched the entire council meeting once she heard about the proposed amendment.

"I did hear one woman say that they want the community back but for years and years URI students have been a part of the Narragansett community," said Balasco. "We bring a lot of growth and revenue to the town in the three seasons where there wouldn't be any tourists and kids come back. They want to live in Narragansett. People love Narragansett because of the URI community."

Balasco said another issue she and her fellow classmates have spoken about since the news is the cost of rent.

Like many, she believes homeowners who rent and chose not to sell would charge more.

Even if that wasn't the case, there would be less people to split the rent.

"I think a lot of us spend so much money already on school so to raise rent for a house with three people when you can't live with who you want to live with that's another big thing," said Balasco.

Narragansett town councilors said landlords and home owners who don't comply and allow more than three unrelated college students to live in a dwelling could face a civil hefty fine of $500 per day if the amendment is approved.

The President of the ACLU of URI, Jay Rumas sent NBC10 the following statement:

Due to restrictions on dorm capacity implemented to quell the spread of COVID-19, the University of Rhode Island announced on June 25, 2020 that it is evicting nearly a third of its on-campus residents -- a staggering 1,800 people. In light of this, Narragansett's recent move to restrict more than 3 college students from residing in a dwelling is abhorrently timed. As currently written, the ordinance in question will apply to anyone enrolled in a university, including financially vulnerable young students, graduate students, adult learners, and URI's many veterans. Narragansett plays a critical role in URI's off campus housing infrastructure, and in addition to housing thousands of students every year, it is currently home to 85% of the available listings in URI's off-campus housing database. Many of these listings now have dozens of groups of prospective residents vying for them, and they will only be able to accommodate a fraction of the applicants. It is highly unlikely that all of these homeless students will be able to find housing and sign leases before the planned ordinance would take effect, and thus they would find themselves trapped by its restrictions. Students in this situation have no plan C-- if Narragansett does not accommodate them, then they will have nowhere to go. Drastically reducing the housing supply with this ordinance at a time of extraordinary demand will throttle the housing market and cause prices to skyrocket. Furthermore, students will no longer be able to split rent more than 3 ways, which will make living in the town even more unaffordable. URI students massively contribute to Narragansett's economy and culture. When the summer's tourists depart, we remain. We patronize her businesses, clean up her beaches, and support her homeowners. Removing thousands of students, and thus their support of reeling local businesses and homeowners during this pandemic-induced recession would not only be highly unethical, but terrible municipal policy. For all of the listed reasons, we believe we speak for thousands of student residents in Narragansett when we say that passage of this ordinance is completely unacceptable. We urge the Town Council and the Planning Board to scrap, modify, or at the very least delay the implementation of this measure in light of the extreme circumstances that COVID-19 has fostered.

The Narragansett Planning Board will hold a virtual meeting about the proposed amendment on Wednesday.

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