Zoning board rules on student houses
By William Kibler , bkibler@altoonamirror.comThe Altoona Zoning Hearing Board recently approved a grandfather exemption for one student house but denied an exemption for another.
The board also approved four requests to create new student homes.
Ted Crawford received an exemption for his property on the 100 block of North Sixth Avenue for two reasons, the board said. The house is in a neighborhood business zone, where there is no minimum student house distance requirements, and the company handling the property for him while he lived in Port Matilda did not pass on letters alerting him of the requirement to register the property as a student house by mid-January.
The board denied an exemption for Timothy Wherry's property on the 100 block of West 13th Avenue because Wherry has rented to nonstudents for the past four years - although he regarded the property as a potential student house throughout that period.
His actual tenant was an older man who worked at Penn State Altoona, said Wherry, an associate professor at the college and husband of college chancellor Lori Bechtel-Wherry.
The house is in a residential zone with minimum space requirements between student homes.
Wherry said he didn't find out until June about the registration requirement and would have registered sooner if he had known.
Board members were incredulous.
"You, a Penn State professor?" Richard Andrews said.
"How could you possibly not know?" asked Donna Royer.
His colleagues have teased him about it, Wherry confessed.
It would have been much easier to do it before the deadline, he said ruefully.
The board's denial seemed to relieve Bill Kitt, a student housing landlord and an early opponent - but now a supporter - of the law.
He has recently monitored the board's student housing cases.
He theorized that if Wherry had received an exemption, anyone could create a student house anywhere a student had once lived.
The board approved new student homes for Perry and Susan Beck on the 1000 block of 22nd Avenue; Bruce Ralston on the 400 block of North Fifth Avenue; Leo Zerbee on the 400 block of Pine Avenue; and Robert Jones on the 800 block of Millville Road.
Such approvals are automatic, if applicants comply with residental zone lot requirements.
|
karbry1
|
|
|---|---|
|
10-05-09 7:21 PM
|
pays to open the mail once in a while
|
|
JohnParker
|
|
|
10-05-09 9:10 AM
|
Follow the money.
|
|
DRILLMAMMA
|
|
|
10-05-09 7:46 AM
|
Imagine that.
|