Towson's recently enacted nuisance house policy has helped neighbors report loud and disruptive students, but over-crowded living situations are still bothering local communities.
Last fall, the University established a phone number and e-mail address so neighbors could report rowdy students living in houses off-campus. But Towson doesn't get involved when neighbors complain about houses that are violating local zoning laws.
Pat Frawley, director of judicial affairs, said that she received 38 complaints about houses in Fall 2006. Fifteen houses were given a warning.
"As soon as we know if they're students and what their names are, we send a police officer over," Frawley said.
Twelve students were charged by judicial affairs and put on probation. Some of the students were fined, but they appealed and associate vice president for student affairs Jana Varvig overturned the fines.
Twenty three other houses were reported, but Towson didn't receive enough information to take action, Frawley said.
She said the Burke Avenue corridor just east of York Road has been the site of repeated complaints recently.
Towson's policy is intended to penalize students who host loud parties or are disruptive to the neighborhood. It doesn't deal with zoning issues - like sorting out how many students are living in houses off-campus.
Baltimore County regulations state that no more than two unrelated persons may live in a single-family house. Groups of students are violating that law in neighborhoods like Towson Manor Village (east of York Road and north of Burke Avenue) and Knollwood/Donnybrook (east of York Road and south of Burke Avenue).
That's a problem for Ed Kilcullen, a resident of Towson Manor Village, who reported two houses in his neighborhood last week.
Towson replied the next day and said one of the issues had already been reported. But the other issue involved over-renting and parking, and the staff member said they couldn't help.
"It is important for you to understand that TU does not deal with parking issues and overcrowding issues," the e-mail to Kilcullen stated. "Parking should go through the police and overcrowding is definitely a zoning issue."
Kilcullen expressed frustration about Towson's reluctance to respond to code violations. In the past, he said, neighbors could give the University an address and someone would search a database and determine if four students were listing that address as their house. Trying to get information from students about their living situation usually isn't effective.
"The students are very well coached by their landlords not to give out any information," he said.
Alex Sulakvelidze was thrust into the middle of a zoning dispute last semester. He rents a four-bedroom house in Knollwood/Donnybrook to four Towson students. After a neighbor reported the house as a possible boarding house, Baltimore County told him that he was violating the law.
He said he didn't know about the regulation. The students had about six months left on their lease, so instead of kicking two of them out, he applied for a boarding house permit from the county.
When community members found out, they flooded the zoning hearing in March to express their opposition. The permit request was rejected.
Sulakvelidze posted an ad for the house on a local Web site last month. So far, he has received over150 inquires, mostly from Towson students.
"People are out there desperately searching for houses," he said. "Most people are looking for four people to share. I told them 'I can only rent to two.' Most of their responses were 'I know, but my friends are doing the same thing. Two are signing the lease, and four live there.'"
Sulakvelidze's position at the hearing was that it's better to make some boarding houses legal, rather than fight with illegal housing situations.
Fay Citerone, president of the Knollwood/Donnybrook Community Association, said her neighbors were concerned that allowing a boarding house could change the character of the community. She pointed to nearby Towson Manor Village as an example.
"A third of their homes are basically rental properties. Most of them fall under the same category of being over-rented and being illegal boarding houses. That's really had an adverse affect on that community," she said.
He has appealed the board's decision. Both he and Citerone said they expect that the students will live there until the lease expires this summer.
For Frawley, the nuisance house policy is time-consuming.
"I spend a lot of time talking to the neighbors when they call. A lot of the time, they just don't understand that we need names," she said.
She urges neighbors to call the police when students are being disruptive.
"If we have a police report, it makes it so much easier," she said.
So far this spring, three houses have been investigated by judicial affairs. One was charged, one was cleared of charges, and one is still being processed. One house was cited twice - once in the fall, once in the spring.
Towson President Robert Caret has asked his staff to share the complaint data with local elected officials, to demonstrate that there have been "relatively few complaints."
Frawley emphasized that the majority of students are behaving properly around Towson.
"As many students as we have living out in the community, this is really not that bad," she said. "Most of our students are living among other generation people and doing really well."
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