Students living under R-1, R-2 or R-3 zoning on Binghamton’s West Side should not expect any imminent changes to the zoning regulations that render many of them law-breakers, according to a Binghamton City councilwoman.

Currently, R-1 zoning, which spans across much of the West Side, makes any housing configuration that includes more than three unrelated people illegal. Single dwelling houses in the R-2 and R-3 zones are held to the same standard. The law was used in February to order the eviction of six students living on Lincoln Avenue.

Despite negotiations between members of the Landlords Association of Broome County and City Councilwoman Teri Rennia, a sluggish decision-making process and policy differences among key players makes any reforms to Binghamton’s zoning laws in the foreseeable future unlikely.

“[The ordinance changes] could take any amount of time. My own personal opinion is that I would prefer to see it happen sooner rather than later, because I think that we’ve seen demonstrated instances recently where the people who really suffer are the students — they get caught in the middle, and I’d really like to avoid that happening if possible,” Rennia said.

She added, however, that the City Council has yet to discuss the issue, and that changing zoning laws is a time-consuming process. Public meetings will have to be held, legislation will have to be drafted and revised, and the perspectives of landlords, non-student residents, the mayor and City agencies such as the zoning department will have to be taken into account, among other steps.

“I would really really like to speak to some students and get their input, but I haven’t heard from any students,” she said.

At a brief meeting yesterday, Ellie Farfaglia, the head of the Landlords Association, requested that representatives of the organization be included in a “work session” of the City Council at some point in the near future. Rennia agreed to the request.

During the work session — which is a private meeting among members of the City Council to work out differences outside of public scrutiny — Farfaglia hopes that the landlords and council can come to some agreement on the future of Binghamton zoning laws.

Despite a series of meetings over the last several months between the landlords and Rennia, few concrete decisions have been made.

The Landlords Association is an activist group that includes members who own student housing and assembles intermittently to protect landlords’ interests in the City.

“The only progress so far is that we have been working with Teri Rennia. There are some things on the table — proposals that she made — some we agree with, some we don’t,” Farfaglia said.

Both parties believe that R-2 and R-3 zoning should be changed to allow for as many as eight or nine students to live in a single house so long as that house meets City and New York State standards.

“There are a lot of large, big, beautiful homes in Binghamton that certainly hold many people, so we want to see those houses being used to their full potential. If there are six bedrooms or eight bedrooms that are safe and meet all the laws, then why not use them,” Farfaglia said.

Farfaglia said Rennia may also be open to proposal for the R-1 zone that would increase the number of non-family tenants in a single house from three to four or five.

As Farfaglia observed, the stakes are high for all members of the Binghamton community.

“The student population is the lifeblood of the City,” she said. “You’re going to see more and more students living in Vestal because they feel so unwanted in Binghamton, and that’s going to hurt the economy of the City.”