The City Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday night is open to the public and will be conducted in the main meeting room at Southern Market Center at 7:30pm.

Come to that meeting and ask those questions. There will be representatives of F&M present to answer your questions.

I live in this area and I have to say, we don't have that many issues with the college kids. In fact, i like them being around because it keeps F&M security on my street. Now that many of the James Street Security people have been moved downtown, we barely see them and I can't even tell you who our neighborhood police officers are. Yet the F&M security lady is very nice and stops and talks to us all on a regular basis.
The people we have problems with are coming out of apartments that are well over the one person per room limit. About a year ago, one of the neighbors finally called th epolice on one apartment that had 18 people living in it. That is who we are having problems with, not the college kids. And many of our parking issues come from the apartment complex at James and Charlotte......There is no parking for that building and it pushes the cars down my street.
And then there is Charlie......why of course he is against it. He doesn't like the idea that the college kids won't be able to live in his buildings. And it could open a can of worms.....like requiring landlords to provide a certain amount of parking per building.
At this point I am still a bit hesitant, but I am ok with this change. And besides what anyone says, the new F&M building was a great addition to the neighborhood, added a new property to the tax rolls, while providing a great new restaurant. And the traffic island on Harrisburg PIke? I think it is great. It keeps the people from using the center lane as a driving lane. I have not noticed any slowing of traffic.

One concern that I have heard is that out of town landlords are not as observant of their tenants as local landlords are.

I have to agree though with LancCity - college students can be excellent neighbors.

I was at the City Council committee meeting where this proposal was first introduced. The newspaper has been doing a TERRIBLE job of explaining this proposal to the public.

F&M does indeed want to require ALL students to live on campus. Period. F&M has had far too many issues with students living in apartments that don't meet City housing codes, and the consequences of students living out of the control of the college.

The problem is, it will take F&M AT LEAST ten years to build new dormitories AND renovate older dormitories to meet current housing standards. F&M wants to deal with these issues long before then.

The plan is basically this: F&M's developer will purchase and RENOVATE enough properties that currently house students to provide all of F&M's overflow housing needs. These will not only be brought up to City housing codes, but also to F&M's much stricter standards. In exchange, F&M has signed a ten-year lease with their developer, guaranteeing him a return on his investment. As the students are gradually transitioned into new on-campus housing, the developer will be free to sell off these renovated properties one at a time, hopefully at a good profit since the properties will be improved and well-maintained.

Off-campus students will be REQUIRED to lease housing from F&M; they will not be permitted to live under their own arrangements, unless they can prove they have family within commuting distance. As F&M brings more on-campus housing online, these lease arrangements will be phased out.

This zoning change would also apply to any other institution of higher learning that wants to create a similar program. LGH, the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, and the Lancaster Theological Seminary would all be able to do the same thing F&M does.

The advantages of this plan are many, including (but not limited to):

- NO taxpayer money is involved, these properties will pay real estate taxes based on their IMPROVED value.

- Students will no longer be allowed to live anywhere that is not controlled by F&M.

- Current privately-owned student housing will be upgraded, resulting in higher real estate values for the surrounding area.

- When the renovated buildings are sold on the open market, they will bring an improved quality of apartment to the NW section of Lancaster. Some may even be converted back to single-family houses by the developer.

Plus, the developer has promised that NO current single-family dwellings would be turned into apartments.

Under this proposal, EVERYONE wins.

Nice explanation Artie.