Comments by tmreader
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Posted on October 5 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When was the last time that the zoning for Troy was reviewed in a comprehensive manner? That is exactly what the proposed Master Plan does. Perhaps our City leaders know that it is time for a change in that area but also knew that the issue was too sticky to delve into this way. That is why they hired an independent consultant to come in and make recommendations.
It is sad that zztrojan has felt the need to go on the personal attack of others on this post. I am offended that you think I am out to "get big bucks" form changing the zoning. I personally live no where near the area, nor do I own any property there, however I have dear friends whose family has lived in that area for decades. I once also lived in the so called "neighborhood" (back when it actually was one). It pains me to see how degraded it is now.
Could it be possible that the reason the zoning laws are not enforced is due to the fact that there is a lack of student housing, and if they were enforced then there just would not be enough places to live? I'm not saying that is the right thing to do, I'm just saying that it might explain why the codes go un-enforced. Have any of you asked you City leaders why this is happening? Just complaining about it on message boards does absolutely nothing.
Posted on October 4 at 10:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There was an article in the Troy Messenger about the student housing shortage before the beginning of the fall semester. I just tried looking for it in the older stories section of the website, but it only goes back a few weeks. So, I decided that it might not be outside the realm of possibility that the Messenger just made all that stuff up about the lack of student housing to generate a story. So, then I clicked on the Classified section of the website and this is what I found: Under Houses for Rent (even though that whole concept is kinda how our problem started) 1 house listed for rent in Brundidge, 1 HUD homes generic listing, and 1 generic listing for homes/mobile homes in the Troy/Brundidge & Goshen area. Three listings total under this category. Under the Apartments category there were a whopping 4 listings, one of which was for an assisted living facility (just where every college student wants to live) and 1 listing which was actually a listing for foreclosed houses for sell. So that brings us to two actual listings in this category. Now granted, the one apartment community listed probably has more than one apartment unit available, however if a housing shortage did not exist, then I would suspect that there would be a least a handful of legitimate apartment listings in a Classified section. The economy would dictate that developers would not want to build new apartments in a demographic area that was already over saturated. Therefore, if the argument that there are already enough apartments is correct (which I doubt is the case), then you should have nothing to worry about.
Posted on October 4 at 10:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would also like to add that the City hired an outside consultant to develop the Master Plan. This consultant took an objective review of the issue and recommended that the 100 block be rezoned. He had no personal stake in the issue. It is interesting to see that an outsider, who is a professional, looked at this situation and made that recommendation.
Posted on October 4 at 9:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What you are asking is that the families that live amongst the renters give up everything that they have worked their whole life to achieve. It is obvious that those who are opposed to this proposition do not live in the areas in question, but possibly have a stake in an area to the south and east. The FAMILIES that live in that area want to rezone, not only the "slum lords". Just saying over and over and over again that the zoning law should be enforced is not going to do anything constructive. leroy makes a very good point that I had not even considered and that is that apartments already exist at the end of Franklin. Is everyone here proposing that these apartment buildings get demolished??
Posted on October 4 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree that the zoning should have been enforced years ago. No argument there from me. But because the zoning rules have not been enforced, the community has changed. Those houses that were rented are now an a sub-standard condition. Now, conceivably, someone could renovate these houses so that single families would want to live there again, however, I still believe that this is the perfect opportunity to save other neighborhoods in town from a similar fate by providing needed student apartments. Who have you checked with to see if the apartment complexes are at capacity or not?? There was an article in the Troy Messenger about the student housing shortage back just before the fall semester started. I'm sure that by now there might be a few openings here or there due to some student drop outs but overall the article indicated that there was a great need for student apartments.
Posted on October 4 at 10:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I competeley agree with the argument that the college students currently living on those streets are doing so illegally. But unless there is some magic button that will automatically turn the enforcement agency on, there is no recourse for the actual families that live in that area (and there ARE families that still live there). Now that being said, I still believe that there is no better place in town for a new student apartment complex than Highland and/or University Avenue. It's better than Elm Street and it is certainly better than Corman Avenue. The University has faced a housing shortage for a number of years now and this area would be an excellent spot to put these students.
Posted on October 4 at 9:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ww are talking about Highland and University Avenues here. The argument that it would be radically changing the makeup of the neighborhood is a poor one due to the fact that it seems there are multiple neighborhoods in that area. Usually neighborhoods are defined as in this application as "a section lived in by neighbors and usually having distinguishing characteristics". The 100 and even 200 blocks of Highland and University now have separate distinguishing characteristics than the rest of the residential areas to the South and East. The first two blocks of those streets are currently college student rental properties with a few families sprinkled in. Because these two streets are bound by the Armory and the University on two sides, it would make sense to rezone these areas. It's called rezoning, it comes with progress, and it is not illegal.
Posted on October 3 at 10:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was told that 100% of the property owners in that section of Highland and/or University in question were in favor of the rezoning. This would include the families still living on the block. Should not the families that live on this street have a say in how their property gets zoned?? Additionally, I can think of no better area of town for new college student apartments than directly across the street from the University.
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Posted on September 25 at 9:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I always loved Mrs. Hixon's classes! She always found ways to make history interesting through her enthusiasm and positive attitude.
On Hixon named to AISA ‘Hall of Fame’