Chesterfield seeks tougher laws on crowded houses
Published: February 19, 2009
Chesterfield County is looking at ways to limit the number of people living under a single roof.
Planning commissioners this week directed staff members to work up a draft ordinance by April that would limit the number of occupants based on the home's square footage.
Current Chesterfield zoning law allows as many as four unrelated people to live in one home, including up to two "roomers" who can rent rooms from the homeowner, but there is no cap on the total number in each house. The suggested changes would set a cap on the number who live in a house -- even if they are related.
The county's exploration of the housing issue comes in response to complaints during the past year that large numbers of people were living together in single-family homes.
Jo Trout, a resident of the 500-home Surreywood subdivision north of Hull Street Road, was one of those who complained about a house in her neighborhood.
"We have actually had a situation where a group of immigrants purchased a house in our subdivision. They made bedrooms out of the living room, the dining room. They had a huge two-car garage where everybody ate -- they actually put some stoves and things in there," she said.
In recent years, Chesterfield has begun to look more seriously at its illegal-immigrant population as courts, jails and health services have struggled to keep up with demand. A 2007 report estimated that illegal immigrants cost the county $1.35 million in fiscal 2006.
Tommy Baer, a local attorney who focuses on immigration issues, said the county could be treading on thin ice. "That's Big Brother kind of stuff," he said. "I just don't think that's going to fly constitutionally."
Ted Barclay, Chesterfield's code-compliance supervisor, said the changes discussed this week could allow for easier enforcement of the zoning code, because zoning officers easily could determine whether a house had too many occupants.
In Surreywood, Trout said the issue since has been resolved when the house was sold, but the Surreywood Civic Association and other community groups would like to prevent similar issues in the future. She suggested that homeowners should be required to apply for a conditional-use permit to rent, allowing for community dialogue.
"Those people who are renting rooms, they are not vested in our community or any community. They don't care. They come and go at odd hours. They don't care whether they throw trash on the streets. They don't care if they maintain our speed limits," she said.
"We're trying to get the county to help us keep and maintain the integrity of a single-family home. When I buy in a subdivision, that's what my assumption is, not that I'm going to have a boarding house next door."
Barclay said the county building code limits the number of occupants in any dwelling, but that limit is based primarily on capacity. As a result, 20 or 30 people could be allowed to live under one roof.
Caroline County, which has a building-occupancy provision in its zoning laws, requires 70 square feet for a room to be considered a bedroom, allowing for a single occupant. For each additional occupant, 50 square feet of bedroom space is required. Herndon in Northern Virginia has similar provisions.
Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Chairman A.S. "Art" Warren said he has received numerous complaints from residents of some subdivisions about overcrowded houses and multiple cars parked outside.
"It's going to be very difficult to deal with this any way you look at it, but it is a problem and it has come up in many places," he said. "Certainly whatever is recommended by the Planning Commission, I'm going to give serious attention to."
Chesterfield supervisors next month will consider a hike in the penalty for homes where more than four unrelated persons are living. The supervisors also will consider shortening the appeal period after a violation is issued. As proposed, the maximum fine would go from $2,000 to $5,000 and the appeal period from 30 days to 10 days.
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or
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Reader Reactions
I’m not sure why Harold wants to malign the Chesterfield police. Why would they want to overlook crimes to maintain the “trust” of the illegal immigrant population in Chesterfield? This seems to be a counterproductive strategy, if it is a strategy. And, maybe some of those speeders the Ch’field police arrest are illegals and could be deported when found guilty of all the things you mentioned?
“The cops just want to turn a blind eye because they don’t want to “offend” them or lose the trust of the illegal community.“
That is correct Harold. There’s a couple other reasons, too, why they let this stuff slide. In essence Chesterfield County VA has a Welcome Mat laid out for illegals. Well, at least the illegals see it that way. Which is why they continue to flock there.
Ps. No “link” or “citation” will be provided for you 20-30 something laptop internet junkies. Get off your butts and get to know some police officers. Ask them questions directly. They will answer honestly.
I forgot to add with all the high tech methods and data bases available today I think they can readily determine immigration status if they really want to.
Spend a few days in Chesterfield’s District Court and you will be surprised by how many illegal aliens are cited for DWI and not having a drivers license or other violations. They can’t get one here because they can’t prove they are here legally. They can buy a car and lie about having insurance by checking off the insurance requirement on the registration application and get plates and drive with no insurance.. If they get caught they are usually fined anywhere from $150 to $500 and maybe spend a few days in jail and continue driving until caught again.
My understanding of the report from Chesterfield is that the police have no legal authority to do anything about immigration status unless they make an arrest for another offense and discover that the offender is also illegal.
Ok let’s assume the first quoted is accurate then does not that give the officer a reason to check. If you are DWI then you are arrested. If you are driving on a fake license, no insurance etc. is that not reason?
I suspect it’s none of the above and the cops just want to turn a blind eye because they don’t want to “offend” them or lose the trust of the illegal community.
Whatever the reason I don’t think law enforcement is doing the job citizens are paying them for. Another reason they are too busy hiding behind trees or in the medians trying to catch someone going a few miles over the speed limit to generate funds from fines for the county. Last saturday I saw three lurking on Rt. 10 between I95 and I295.
What I don’t fully understand is, if so many illegal immigrants are identified in the Chesterfield Court system because they have broken some law, why are they held in jail in Chesterfield? Why aren’t they fined and deported? We have to pay to keep them in jail. They may not be working a job that a citizen of the US could be working, but we are still supporting them. Maybe we need to start charging foreign countries so much per day to hold their people in our jails until they can be transported back to country of origin. And retroactive charges for every day that they have spent illegally in our country before they were incarcerated.
hjackson
My understanding of the report from Chesterfield is that the police have no legal authority to do anything about immigration status unless they make an arrest for another offense and discover that the offender is also illegal. It seems like the only current recourse for neighbors is to report behavior like “disturbing the peace”, etc, that might get someone arrested, then the police can check immigration status, or rather, residency status, then immigration status. So, it seems, that the police are upholding the laws as they currently are written. In America,we don’t allow the police to go “round up” people that we don’t like and throw them in jail. If you want that kind of “protection” you have to go to some dictatorial regime governed country. There are a lot of things that could be different in America, but we do try to preserve the freedom of people regardless of whether government officials or the neighbors like them or not. Freedom can be frustrating to live with; it’s messy.
Do more road blocks ,Illegal get them out of here ,if they’re not than thats a chance you take when stopping them . I.C.E. needs to patrol more .
celtwom2591 thanks for the link. It appears from that that only legal citizens have to obey and are subject to legal action from Chesterfield authorities including the massive police force. Somewhere in my 65 years I missed the part about America being a law abiding society and all public servants were bound by oaths to uphold the laws of the United States, The Commonwealth of Virginia and the County of Chesterfield.
I guess if you are Hispanic, here illegally, suck up public services that they are not entitled to we should just turn a blind eye like law enforcement so as not to destroy the trust between cops and the illegals. Heaven forbid if that were to happen. I wonder if the non-enforcing cops consider the trust from the citizens they are supposed to be protecting is worth anything?
Here is a link that explains what Chesterfield is doing and what they can’t do about the illegal population. They even acknowledge in this report that whatever they do has to be done in a way that it doesn’t appear to be discriminatory due to race, nationality, etc. So even Chesterfield is aware that this could look like RACISM.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:NWGpr72OazQJ:www.loudoun.gov/controls/speerio/resources/RenderContent.aspx?data=0de09b4957a242abbc2fbab0d1b71428&tabid=313&fmpath;=/Business+Meeting+Packets/2007/09-04-07+packet+occupancy+laws+chesterfield+va&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=13&gl=us
Spend a few days in Chesterfield’s District Court and you will be surprised by how many illegal aliens are cited for DWI and not having a drivers license or other violations. They can’t get one here because they can’t prove they are here legally. They can buy a car and lie about having insurance by checking off the insurance requirement on the registration application and get plates and drive with no insurance.. If they get caught they are usually fined anywhere from $150 to $500 and maybe spend a few days in jail and continue driving until caught again. They are from all parts of the world. Just hope that you are not involved in a accident with one of them. Most likely they will not have insurance. This is the fault of the all branches of government and the politicians.
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