Joseph Lembo is a member of Narragansett 2100, an organization of 300 members formed seven years ago that includes owners of rental properties in Narragansett. The organization is challenging a town ordinance that restricts the number of college students allowed to rent a home. The lawsuit has a first hearing on April 20.
Lembo spoke to Providence Business News this week about the property rights issues raised by the matter.
PBN: Who is Narragansett 2100 and why were you founded?
LEMBO: It’s a group of landlords, property owners and property managers throughout the town of Narragansett that got together seven years ago. There was one incident [a large house party] that was a problem and we felt we needed to get proactive as an organization of responsible landlords. With 2,100 rental units, we have over 300 members that probably represent half of those units.
PBN: The town has passed an ordinance restricting the number of students in a rental home to three people. Why shouldn’t the town restrict the number of students?
LEMBO: There are two ordinances. [The original ordinance restricting the rental to]
four unrelated [individuals] was ruled unconstitutional. That one got challenged. There is an economic impact to the town. Students in the town are the economy for 37 weeks. Yes, there is a vibrant residential community in Narragansett, but students – when you bring in 6,000 students – they provide a lot to the community. We have worked with the former town councils, with the police department, with the University of Rhode Island student senate, student council. We’ve worked with everyone these past six years and have reduced nuisances to a low number. We can prove that behavior has improved in the last six years.
PBN: Have landlords been more proactive in making sure their tenants are not problems?
LEMBO: Absolutely. We made best practices. We have made people understand what is put into leases and what to watch out for.
PBN: Is there inherently going to be conflict in towns that have single-family homes and a large number of rental homes occupied by students?
LEMBO: When you have two populations like that, it’s not a clash, but there is a very small minority of the college population that hasn’t grown up yet, it’s the 1% of the college population. One percent of the rentals create the problems in the town. But yet, the council … is creating more rentals with this [ordinance]. Yes, there are five-, six- and seven-bedroom homes. But our take on that is why did the planning and zoning board allow those homes to be built?
PBN: What is the perfect solution to this? Should the Town Council adopt zoning that is more restrictive on bedrooms?
LEMBO: I think the solution has to be to agree on a number, the four “unrelated.” Grandfather the existing larger homes. And have new planning and zoning rules in place.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at MacDonald@PBN.com.
