At 4 p.m. on Monday, April 19, the City of College Station held a special meeting to vote on enacting a Restricted Occupancy Overlay, or ROO, within specific communities of the city.
Following the call to order, Alyssa Halle-Schramm, the project manager for the ROO ordinance, gave an overview of the ordinance. Halle-Schramm said the city council began planning the ordinance early in 2020, workshopping with the Planning & Zoning Commission. After a meeting in August, the city council took time to review what the definition of family included.
Halle-Schramm said the council held meetings for public input and drafted a proposed ordinance. The proposed ordinance changes the current housing ordinance to where only two unrelated people may live in one household in certain zoning districts, opposed to the four unrelated people residing in a household which is currently allowed. For the ROO to be enacted within a zoning district, 50 percent plus one of the residents of a neighborhood must
The Student Senate held a meeting this Wednesday, March 31 to discuss several resolutions, including ones discussing a recent rise in Asian discrimination, the Restricted Occupancy Overlay, or ROO, proposed by the College Station City Council and the defense of academic freedom.
The âStop the ROOâ resolution, made to oppose the ROO ordinance proposed by College Stationâs City Council, discussed the push to limit the amount of unrelated individuals that can live in a home together in single-family neighborhoods and the impact this has on student housing.
âThis ordinance, if passed, would constrict studentsâ options for housing and limit affordability,â the resolution reads. âThe Restricted Occupancy Overlay Ordinance is discriminatory to the many students that choose to live in single-family neighborhoods, who often are lower income students that cannot afford the high amenity apartment complexes that are prominent in College Station.â