City limits roommates

Students who plan to live with three or more roommates might want to reconsider their living situation. \nOn Nov. 7, the Indiana Supreme Court held a hearing on a case about a city housing violation.\nThe city sued landlord Peter Dvorak and five tenants -- former IU students Imram Ariz, Brian Gach, Eric Himes, Scott Albright and Alan Lutz -- for a 1996 violation of a city ordinance that allows up to only three unrelated adults to share rental property in Bloomington.\nAfter the Monroe Circuit Court found the ordinance constitutional, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the decision in May 2002.\nIn 1985, the city enacted the ordinance that applies to all houses in Bloomington. \nMichael Flory is assistant attorney for the city of Bloomington. Flory attended the hearing last week with two others.\nFlory said the increasing student population caused the city to protect local residents from noise, trash and other public nuisance.\nFall student enrollment at IU Bloomington increased from 5,403 in 1940 to 10,715 in 1950 and 30,368 in 1970 before the record 38,903 students enrolled in Fall 2002, according to the University's Factbook.\n"You are going to have certain adult density impacts," Flory said. \nFlory said the ordinance helps the city classify certain land uses and geographic areas. He said the city consists of districts, including commercial and industrial zones and different kinds of residential areas, such as fraternities, sororities and single-family residential zones.\nFlory said about 20 similar cases have occurred, and complaints from neighbors often initiate the investigation. \nIn the case involving Dvorak and his tenants, Flory said the city responded to a neighbors' notice that six cars were parked outside the house.\n"Increased enforcement of initial limitation (of the number of unrelated adults in a house) is one of the main steps taken," Flory said about the solution to reduce the ordinance violations.\nFlory also said every landlord is aware of the limitation through the inspection program the city conducts to all rental property in Bloomington.\nIU law professor Alex Tanford was one of the attorneys for Dvorak and the tenants.\nTanford said the ordinance is against the Indiana State Constitution. \n"The Indiana Constitution says law may not discriminate against groups of citizens by denying them the same right as everybody else," Tanford said. "That should be enforced. This ordinance singles out one group of citizens, group of (four or more) unrelated citizens and says that they may not live in the neighborhood near the campus, but everybody else can."\nFlory said typically the Supreme Court takes about six months to a year to review the materials before giving its verdict.\nSome other cities in Indiana also have similar ordinances, including Indianapolis, Michigan City, South Bend, West Lafeyette and Vincennces.