Miami Student

Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Community

Residential and commercial complexes such as the building which houses Hungry Howie's will be discussed by a nine-person committee formed by city council.

Discussion within Oxford City Council Tuesday led to the formation of a nine-person committee to revisit the building requirements of the November election Issue 20.

According to Alan Kyger, former councilor and current chair of the government relations committee of the Oxford Chamber of Commerce, Issue 20 as it stands has created concerns among current councilors regarding its effectiveness.

"Council would still like to see further study done on the result of Issue 20 passing," Kyger said. "They'd still like to take a look at apartment size, floor-area ratio and see if that needs to be adjusted."

Issue 20, passed in November, lifted from the Oxford City Charter the 27-year-old three dwelling unit per building lot restriction in the uptown district-and many thought this would subsequently allow for more development uptown.

One of the current issues in the amended charter that council has addressed is the first floor commercial space requirement, according to Kyger.

As the legislation currently stands, uptown structures are required to use the first floor for business use only. Kyger said the intention of this item was to contain residential space to only the second floors and above. However, because the legislation literally reads that the first floor must be used for commercial purposes, this also forbids allowing areas such as dumpster spaces, patios or parking lots to be included as part of the lot space.

"(Council wants) it to be re-looked at deeper by this committee that has a cross section of lawyers, users, uptown business owners, etc," Kyger said.

According to Oxford Mayor Prue Dana, the nine-person committee will be chosen at the next city council meeting.

"The study committee will be very flexible," Dana said. "They will look at housing maintenance codes and room size regulations."

Any changes from the nine-person committee will be placed under the zoning code, rather than the Oxford Charter. These new zoning regulations will impact business and residences-such as the new development, The Lofts of Bella Place-and will divide each lot into nine different living units, according to Dana.

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