A group of six Binghamton University students accused of violating a West Side housing law last semester plan to defend themselves as a family in an open hearing scheduled for next week.
In early December, two BU professors filed a complaint against their six student neighbors for violating the R-1 zoning law, which calls for only ‘factional and functional families’ to live in a specific block of streets on the city’s West Side.
The Zoning Ordinance of the Planning, Housing & Community Development Department of the City of Binghamton includes criteria like ‘whether the occupants share the entire dwelling unit or act as separate roomers’ and have ‘proof of sharing expenses for food, rent or ownership costs, utilities and other household expenses’ to be recognized as a functional equivalent of a family.
According to the document, a functional and factual family equivalent is considered a ‘group of unrelated individuals living together and functioning together as a traditional family.’
In 2000, over 20 students were evicted from their homes for violating the restriction, affecting homes located between Recreation Park and Seton Catholic Central down to the Susquehanna River, and between Beethoven Street and Chestnut Street.
Doug Drazen, a lawyer representing Ken Dubensky, the students’ landlord, said the students have known each other since kindergarten.
‘They pool resources and have no locks on their doors,’ he said. ‘Some real families don’t even do that.’
The last criteria of the Zoning Ordinance states that ‘any other factor reasonably related to whether or not the group of persons is the functional equivalent of a family’ would be considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Ted Tedino, the Zoning Enforcement Officer, refused to comment for this story.
These factors will be brought up at a zoning meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6 when the students involved in the case, as well as anyone else who attends, will get an opportunity to speak.
Drazen said that the complaints against the six were made ‘without any legitimate basis.’
‘These students are conducting themselves in the way that students should conduct themselves,’ he said. ‘The complaints have nothing to do with these students’ conduct, but their status as students.’
According to the Drazen, income statistics have been dropping in Binghamton since 1980. Evicting the six would not be the way to establish a good reputation for Binghamton, he said.
‘You want to have a thriving economy and these [students] are exactly the people Binghamton needs to have investing money here,’ he added.
According to Andrew Block, the Director of Community Relations for the City of Binghamton, the hope for the case is to have a healthy community for people to live in while ensuring that everyone follows the rules.
‘We want there to be a partnership between everyone involved,’ Block said on behalf of Mayor Matt Ryan.
Drazen hopes that the case will allow the students to continue living in the house until their lease is up so that their studies are not disrupted.
‘For now the students are doing their work, working at their jobs and trying to continue what they were doing ‘ being good neighbors,’ Drazen said. ‘These professors can do a lot worse than having students from BU next door to them,’ he says.
A public hearing is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 5:30 p.m. before the Zoning Board in the City Council Chamber of City Hall.