The Carrboro Board of Aldermen received a proposal for a cap on the number of non-related people allowed to live in a house in Carrboro at their meeting June 5.
The cap, which would limit the number of unrelated individuals living in a house to four by amending the current definition of a boarding house, was proposed by town staff as a way to combat the increasing development of houses to be rented by students in the Lloyd-Broad neighborhood.
Currently, a boarding house is defined as one dwelling unit with two or more rooms that are designed to be rented.
“We have businesses operating in a residential neighborhood,” said Leo Gaev, co-president of the Lloyd-Broad Neighborhood Association. “They are allowed to do so. They have every right to do so, but it has become a burden to the neighbors.”
Hudson Vaughan, senior director of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center, gave a presentation on behalf of the neighborhood in which he described an increase in the number of students living in the Lloyd-Broad area. In particular, Vaughan pointed to a new 3,000-square-foot house at 308 Lloyd St. with eight rooms available for rent.
Vaughan said parking and increased noise have become issues for neighbors.
Town staff also proposed an overlay district for the neighborhood that would limit development through restrictions like maximum building heights.
Town members want the proposed changes to go into effect specifically within the Lloyd-Broad neighborhood, not necessarily within the whole town.
“In the case of Lloyd-Broad, it’s clear it’s a small-scale-house neighborhood. It needs control of the number of occupants,” Carrboro resident Tom Wiltberger said. “The streets can’t handle it. The lots can’t handle the parking.”
