HF 161

An almost overlooked issue at last night's city council meeting was the announcement of the passage of  HF161, a bill in the Iowa House of Representatives that would eliminate the ability of cities to limit occupancy of homes based on family status. Most of U-Heights is zoned single family meaning a family of related individuals, regardless of size, may live in a house. By our zoning definition, however, no more than two unrelated adults comprise a family. As our city attorney observed last night, this is the bedrock of all of our zoning and housing regulations. I wrote about this two years ago when the same bill was in the Iowa House HF184 Do Something?

Check this story in this morning's Press Citizen for details.

Bill would end some single-home roommate restrictions

I would urge all of you to consider writing to our senators to express your feelings on this topic. A similar bill SF458 has the important difference of NOT eliminating the non-related standard for zoning. Here is information I shared with people at the council meeting last night:

Local Senators

joe@joebolkcom.org                   Johnson

robert.dvorsky@legis.iowa.gov     Johnson

Kevin.Kinney@legis.iowa.gov        Johnson/Washington

rob.hogg@legis.iowa.gov             Linn

liz.mathis@legis.iowa.gov             Linn

wally.horn@legis.iowa.gov           Linn

Ask senators to oppose SSB1218, or SF458 or similar bills to HF161. The key is not to limit the ability of cities to restrict, via zoning, the number of unrelated adults that can occupy a property.

Points to mention: As a community of small homes (2 bedrooms, many under 1600 square feet) and narrow streets we would simply not be able to accommodate the amount of pressure this would put on our town. Street storage of autos, problems with garbage collection, and general wear on property are all problems exacerbated by increasing the number of adults living in a single property.

Other senators

Majority leader         mike.gronstal@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Majority Leader:    bill.dotzler@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Majority Leader:    matt.mccoy@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Majority Leader:    amanda.ragan@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Majority Leader:    mary.jo.wilhelm@legis.iowa.gov

Republican Leader:    bill.dix@legis.iowa.gov

Republican Whip:      jack.whitver@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Republican Leader: rick.bertrand@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Republican Leader: randy.feenstra@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Republican Leader: tim.kapucian@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Republican Leader: charles.schneider@legis.iowa.gov

Assistant Republican Leader: dan.zumbach@legis.iowa.gov

Find all Iowa Senators:

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/senate