Our college town has a shortage of housing for long term residents. Affordable units are quickly snapped up by the parents of students or investors. As part of a rezoning to develop relatively affordable housing, the developer has stated that he is willing offer a condition that an HOA will be established and that the HOA rules will prohibit rentals to tenants under 23. (Virginia permits conditional rezonings where the developer proffers conditions to mitigate impacts of the rezoning.) The question is whether our town can accept such a condition. The "familial status" protections in the FHA prohibit discrimination against families that have children under the age of 18, but I'm not sure that they apply in this case. Is anyone familiar with such a provision being used to keep a development from becoming student housing? I have concerns about the proposal but cannot put my finger on the legal prohibitions for such a condition. Lawrence Spencer Town Attorney Town of Blacksburg Blacksburg,VA (540) 443-1016

The attached may give you some direction. Also see Patricia Salkin's article at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1732245 -D dwightmerriam@gmail.com www.dwightmerriam.com https://www.facebook.com/dwightmerriamesq/ https://dwightmerriam.wordpress.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwightmerriam/ https://twitter.com/DwightMerriam 80 Latimer Lane Weatogue, CT 06089 860-651-7077 landline 860-463-7233 cellphone *This transmittal is intended for a particular addressee(s). It may constitute a confidential attorney-client communication. If it is not clear that you are the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this transmittal in error; any review, copying or distribution or dissemination is strictly prohibited. If you suspect that you have received this transmittal in error, please notify Attorney Dwight Merriam at 860-463-7233, or by email reply to the sender, and delete the transmittal and any attachments. Documents attached to this message are not encrypted.* On Tue, Sep 3, 2019 at 5:27 PM Lawrence Spencer <LSpencer@blacksburg.gov> wrote: > Our college town has a shortage of housing for long term residents. > Affordable units are quickly snapped up by the parents of students or > investors. > > > > As part of a rezoning to develop relatively affordable housing, the > developer has stated that he is willing offer a condition that an HOA will > be established and that the HOA rules will prohibit rentals to tenants > under 23. (Virginia permits conditional rezonings where the developer > proffers conditions to mitigate impacts of the rezoning.) > > > > The question is whether our town can accept such a condition. The > "familial status" protections in the FHA prohibit discrimination against > families that have children under the age of 18, but I’m not sure that they > apply in this case. > > > > Is anyone familiar with such a provision being used to keep a development > from becoming student housing? I have concerns about the proposal but > cannot put my finger on the legal prohibitions for such a condition. > > > > Lawrence Spencer > > Town Attorney > > Town of Blacksburg > > Blacksburg,VA > > (540) 443-1016 > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Universitycities mailing list > Universitycities@lists.imla.org > http://lists.imla.org/mailman/listinfo/universitycities_lists.imla.org >