The University of St. Thomas, the largest private college in Minnesota, has been an asset to Ward 4 and the City of St. Paul for a long time. The presence of UST has historically had a stabilizing influence on the Merriam Park and Macalester-Groveland neighborhoods. But in recent years, there has been a growing chorus of neighbors concerned about the impacts of UST and other college students living in single-family homes in the neighborhood. Complaints about student noise, parties, and other behaviors impacting neighbors are far and away the most common complaint my office receives from that part of the Ward.
Having a large number of college students living in homes in the neighborhood (about 1,600 UST students live off-campus within one mile of campus) has by all accounts had detrimental effects on quality of life for area residents.
The West Summit Neighborhood Advisory Committee (WSNAC), a partnership of the neighborhood and UST, has been working to address issues and problems related to campus/community relations since 2004. UST representatives, district councils, neighborhood representatives, and others have come to the table and developed new ideas, partnerships, and tools for addressing concerns regarding student behavior. WSNAC has been largely unable, however, to address the problem of a growing concentration near campus of single-family homes converted into student rentals.
Recently, I proposed and the City Council adopted a moratorium, in an area around the UST campus, on the conversion of owner-occupied single-family and duplex homes into student rentals. The moratorium also prevents the conversion of a single family home to a duplex or triplex, and of a duplex to a triplex. The purpose of the moratorium is to give the Planning Commission and city staff the time to undertake a community process to determine the potential zoning tools that might be available to deal with the issue of the concentration of student rentals around campus. Moratoria of this type can last no longer than one year, and I am hopeful that this one won't last that long.
One possible solution to the problem of student rental concentration is a mandatory minimum distance between homes that could be used as student homes. Because this would be achieved through zoning, all existing student rentals would be grandfathered in and allowed to continue. But in this scenario, turning a formerly owner-occupied home into a student home would be prohibited if there was another student home in close proximity.
This approach would clearly have pros and cons. The distance requirement could prevent further conversions to student rentals in the blocks closest to campus. This approach would clearly have pros and cons. This could provide some relief to the remaining homeowners on those blocks. The downside would be that we would expect some modest growth, over time, in new student rentals a little further from campus.
City staff will host a community forum about this idea and others from 6:30-8:00pm on Tuesday, October 25, at the Merriam Park Rec Center.
Whatever the outcome, zoning is only one of many tools that can be used to continue to improve upon the relationship between the community and UST. It is incumbent upon all of us to remember that the desired outcome is a better campus/community relationship between our great neighborhoods and the wonderful community asset that is UST.
