HousingHousing
Morgantown's expanding, diverse economy continued to require a significant amount of rental housing to meet the needs of University students, short-term visitors to the medical center, and transitional housing for persons while they seek long-term accommodations. Whole blocks of old, rundown housing have been replaced with mid-rise apartments and townhouses that allow University-related students and staff to avoid the need to drive to campus.
In the Mixed Use zoning district in particular, on-street parking has been reduced as off-street parking areas were created for residents, small neighborhood businesses that serve the residents, and daily visitors to campus; the streets have thus been able to carry traffic more safely. Sidewalks and pedestrian-ways have been created to allow safe travel without conflicting with vehicular movements.
The neighborhood associations worked with the City's Beautification Commission to install and maintain landscaped entrances to neighborhoods, and the City's main entrances. The new sense of pride in property maintenance has created a significant improvement in community aesthetics that has helped to stabilize the older neighborhoods, and to improve the quality of life for residents.
Visitors to the University and federal facilities often comment on the positive changes that have occurred, and parents of prospective University students note how much the aesthetics of the community affected their children's decision to attend WVU. The City and Rental Owners' Association have worked closely to maintain rental housing that is competitive in the metropolitan housing market.
As the City annexed undeveloped areas around it, opportunities have occurred to develop small housing complexes for low to moderate income households, complementing the in-town housing converted to meet part of the overall (non-student) low and moderate income needs. The City's efforts, using finances from its 1996 Champion Communities grant award, to encourage small business development in the central neighborhoods also allowed low and moderate income households to find jobs near their residences.
The housing element identifies the key issues facing newcomers looking for a place to live, and for residents who are dealing with changes taking place in the community. Because Morgantown is home to federal agency offices, medical center facilities, and West Virginia University, there are unusual impacts on the City housing market. The interrelationships between housing resources and other elements of the Comprehensive Plan are direct and critically important to the future of the City as a desirable place to live.
West Virginia University has had the biggest impact on the City's housing resources for several decades. Conversion of older homes into apartments has changed some neighborhoods entirely as off-campus housing for a growing student enrollment occurred. Added to this was a growing concentration of medical facilities and federal research facilities that created good paying jobs for several thousands of employees. The overcrowding of students, and their housing quality problems led to adoption of a rental inspection ordinance in 1979, requiring registration and compliance with basic life-safety and health criteria. Since 1980 the number of registered rental units has increased to about 65 percent of the City's total housing supply.
In 1991-1992 the City changed the Zoning Ordinance to limit further changes of single family homes into apartments. About that same time new apartments just outside the City were being built, and within a few years several hundreds of new apartments had been built. The impact upon the poorly maintained, older housing resources usually occupied by students was a high vacancy level. Stricter enforcement of the property maintenance code has resulted in condemnation and removal of many old structures. This should result in improved neighborhoods, spurred along by riverfront redevelopment and mixed residential-mixed use development in Sunnyside.
Non-student housing needs include low to moderate income households which cannot effectively compete with students for housing that would normally be available at a reasonable cost. At the other extreme is the need for retirement housing, for current area residents and former residents who would like to return here to take advantage of the cultural, medical, and educational resources available locally.
Morgantown has very little vacant, developable land. In the
last decade only four new subdivisions, totaling about 115 lots,
have been created. About a dozen new homes on previously
platted lots are built each year. New multi-family housing in the City is small scale (three to 24 units on a site) and often
involves demolition of existing structures. Increased code
enforcement activity by City Inspectors is resulting in removal
or rehabilitation of condemned housing, involving about 75
structures a year. Because of the age of the housing stock,
many old structures have lead-based paint and asbestos
materials that tend to complicate rehabilitation and demolition.
Recent annexations to the City have not added land that is
developable for residential use in that the annexed areas are
already developed.
Off-campus University student housing accounts for most of the
rental housing supply in the City. In neighborhoods where
student housing is concentrated, the older structures which
have been converted to apartments are generally in need of
major repairs and more regular aesthetic maintenance.
Although the City has a law restricting overcrowding of
dwelling units, many renters and some landlords seek to
circumvent the law, and in conjunction with new rental
housing being built just outside the City giving students the
option to live in new quarters that have on-site parking, many
older apartments in older student neighborhoods are vacant.
Transitional and retirement housing supplies are difficult to
locate, and non-students stay away from renting in student
housing neighborhoods due to lifestyle differences. Because of
the federal agencies located here, and University and medical
center employment opportunities, there is a lot of turnover of
persons/households coming to and leaving the community.
Short-term rentals, while such people look for more permanent
housing, are difficult to locate.
Goal A. Neighborhoods that are safe and aesthetically pleasing to visit and reside in.
Objective A1. A sense of pride in well-maintained property, revealing itself in landscaping and upkeep.
Strategies
A1a. Develop initiatives that promote proper maintenance of property.
A1b. Encourage neighborhood associations as a means of communicating and involving residents in adopting high standards of property maintenance.
A1c. Encourage group tours, open houses, etc. that make residents aware of property maintenance and landscaping in City neighborhoods, and also about the City's historic and architectural resources.
A1d. Work with neighborhood groups, and other on plans to design/redesign neighborhoods to work functionally in a changing Community environment, and to improve aesthetics and environmental protection.
A1e. Develop generic and specific street-scape designs for entrances to neighborhoods and at major City entrances.
Objective A2. Establish an Architectural Review Board to review proposed developments and improvements, with a focus on assuring that community needs and aspirations are met.
Strategies
A2a. Encourage public participation in reviewing proposed developments, in coordination with other boards and Commissions, bringing into focus their knowledge and resources to help maintain valued structures and districts.
A2b. Support incentives for property owners to upgrade, enhance, and maintain property conditions throughout the community.
Objective A3. A litter-free community.
Strategies
A3a. Conduct education programs and enforcement programs relating to outdoor property maintenance, trash storage, anti-littering, and improving the overall appearance of the neighborhoods.
Objective A4. Codes enforcement applied throughout the City's neighborhoods, assuring remediation or elimination of conditions that undercut safety and aesthetics.
Strategies
A4a. Implement voluntary property inspections by owners, centered on life safety factors, assisted by a group of interested persons in each neighborhood.
A4b. Educate homeowners about the need for periodic home inspections to detect conditions that need attention.
A4c. Conduct zoning and property maintenance (code) enforcement on a programmed basis throughout the City, assuring equal applicability.
A4d. Allocate personnel and resources to effectively enforce City Codes; zoning, public works, building inspections, and engineering.
Goal B. A supply of housing that meets the needs of persons and households seeking to reside in the City, with costs that are affordable to the wide range of personal incomes.
Objective B1. Housing that is affordable for low and moderate income persons, located near areas of employment, shopping, community services, and community facilities.
Strategies
B1a. Work with agencies and organizations that assist low and moderate income persons in finding housing that meets their needs.
B1b. Encourage neighborhood residents to recognize the diversity that exists, and to use that diversity in activities that enhance living in the neighborhood.
Objective B2. Locate higher density housing near employment centers and land uses that generate high traffic, so as to maximize easy access and minimize traffic and parking congestion.
Strategies
B2a. Jointly work with residents, the business community, and WVU administration to resolve current parking and traffic problems.
Goal C. Neighborhoods that are safe and which have a healthy living environment.