Noisy parties, cars parked all over the place, and stuffed trash cans were cited as reasons for the Village of Forest Hills to limit the number of families allowed to inhabit in a single household to two. Forest Hills is adjacent to WCU. Several other college towns have limited the number of families allowed to reside in a house. Forest Hills claims to have patterned its proposed ordinance after those adopted in Boone and Chapel Hill.
Using zoning rather than law enforcement for behavior modification was advocated because the village employs no personnel, but it does hire an off-duty deputy to patrol parties on weekends. (Don’t ask me. I’m just the messenger.) That is not working because kids text warnings to each other and split before the fuzz arrives. Enforcement of the family ordinance will be the responsibility of the “volunteer zoning enforcement officer.” The village also works with the NC Division of Community Assistance, which provides consulting services for jurisdictions that can’t hire planning staff.
The ordinance is anticipated to help create affordable housing because housing people can afford must be eliminated in order to grow demand for government-subsidized housing.
