By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
After a lengthy series of reviews and a hearty round of discussion that has spanned several months, Whitewater officials have minted a two-pronged ordinance aimed at putting parameters around bedroom additions in homes falling within a specific zoning classification.
Chris Munz-Pritchard, neighborhood services director, came before the Common Council on June 21 with recommendations for properties that have the technical designation of residential overlay district (R-2A).
The changes impact some of the off-campus housing geared toward University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students and is designed to mitigate recent concerns that have cropped up.
Munz-Pritchard, who hashed over the new ordinance with a formed sub-committee and with members of the Plan and Architectural Review Commission, had suggested an ordinance to address two specific issues in the residential overlay district.
Prior to adoption of the ordinance, Munz-Pritchard said R-2A did not “address the conversion of living space to additional bedrooms,” nor did it “address the number of students allowed per bedroom.”
The ordinance that was adopted by the council attempts to remedy both issues, Munz-Pritchard said.
City officials have created a series of square-footage calculations that will be used when property owners or landlords pull permits to remodel interior spaces in the residential overlay district.
The ordinance, for instance, specifies a dwelling unit must provide 400 square feet of total habitable space for the first occupant and 330 square feet of space for each additional occupant.
Municipal staffers will be looking at a home’s kitchen, living room, dining area, bathrooms and bedrooms to determine what constitutes the sum of a home’s total floor area.
The second provision in the ordinance addresses residential properties within the district with two or more bedrooms. As stated in the document, each bedroom is to contain at least 80 square feet of floor space.
Additional square footage is to be tacked on to the total if more than one person is occupying a particular bedroom.
