Comments on: Residential Overcrowding Enforcement Improves

By: Greg L

Greg L — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:07:42 +0000

1. Report the problem to zoning. They should investigate and resolve it.
2. If they do not, contact a City Councilman. Marc Aveni has been terrific at helping on this issue.
3. If neither of those steps work, reach out to Help Save Manassas. They can help.

By: iwantjustice

iwantjustice — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:48:23 +0000

How can I report over crowding. I’m fairly new to Manassas, and in Central PA there was never an issue, my neighbors have probablly 15 people living in their end unit townhouse and basement of the townhouse. They don’t maintain anything and the men are illegal, undocumented. Any help is appreciated.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:15:33 +0000

Johnson, actually people being related or not is an issue. There was a study done indicating/linking higher crime rates in homes used as boarding homes than in homes strictly used as a single family home. If you think about it, it makes sense. Who would you get mad at more for eating your food or saying the wrong thing, a renter or a family member?

By: Johnson

Johnson — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:37:30 +0000

Overcrowding and quality of life are the issues. Whether or not people are related to one another is a moot point. A body is a body. I could see it in extreme circumstances, such as when a married couple has a lot of kids.

By: Kevin C

Kevin C — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:08:12 +0000

anon said, “The reason the city of Fredericksburg can do it to college students is because they’re not all related to each other the way hispanic people are.”

Now THAT’S funny !!!!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:37:29 +0000

Patty, it is only legal because no one has taken them to court yet. I can assure I have done this long enough to know as soon as some one takes them to court it will come crashing down. Virginia law is very specific and clear and what they are doing is in violation of VA law. Remember the Manassas defintion of single family? As soon as the money grubbing lawyers from DC came in what happened. Don’t get me wrong, I support any way to limit overcrowding, but this is not legal under A law.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:55:02 +0000

anon said on 11 Dec 2009 at 8:50 pm: Flag comment

The reason the city of Fredericksburg can do it to college students is because they’re not all related to each other the way hispanic people are.

The allmighty dollar is the only relationship they have when they are crowded into nothing more than a chicken coop.

By: ...

... — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:16:22 +0000

They also don’t have “College Students Without Borders” taking up their cause.

By: anon

anon — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:50:08 +0000

The reason the city of Fredericksburg can do it to college students is because they’re not all related to each other the way hispanic people are.

By: chuck

chuck — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:26:43 +0000

Yeah,

like I want a house with 9 bedrooms with loads of hispanic men crammed in there like gerbils. whomever thinks that’s safe is just plain stupid.

By: ...

... — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:08:36 +0000

According to the City of Fredericksburg:

Q. How many people can live in a home?

A. The zoning office uses the zoning ordinance definition of a family to determine occupancy of a dwelling unit. According to the City Code, Chapter 78-1, Definitions, a family means “one person or two or more persons related by blood, adoption or marriage, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, with no more than two boarders, or a group of not more than three unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit.”

By: ...

... — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:36:42 +0000

The City of Fredericksburg has an ordinance dating back decades which limits the number of people that may live in a house. Someone should check this out and see how they do it. Mary Washingon college students complain about it all the time.

By: Advocator

Advocator — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:16:52 +0000

“This comes not a moment too soon.”

You’re not prone to understatements, Greg, but that’s the epitome of one.

It comes about 4 years and several hundred million dollars in depressed property values too late. Why did it take so long? [a rhetorical question] Because neither political party wanted to do anything about this problem. The Democrats want undereducated, illiterate voters, and the Republicans want a permanent underclass of cheap slave labor. Neither party really cares that it’s those of us who would like to live by the rules and pay our fair share of taxes that suffers. We suffer from the degradation of our neighborhoods, the degeneration of our schools, the over use of our social infrastructure by those who do not contribute to its maintenance, and we are preyed upon by the criminality of another under class.

Any change to this paradigm is going to be gut-wrenching. The side willing to risk the most guts is the side that will win. The illegal immigrants have nothing to lose by risking it all. Those who want them here for their cheap labor and votes have a lot to lose. That’s where the pressure point, or, in Clausewitzean terms, the Center of Gravity, is. Attack it and we win. Dissipate our resources on chasing down individual Jose’s and Arosemina’s and we lose.

By: Patty

Patty — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:57:56 +0000

Anonymous,

Herndon has had this same ordinance in place for a long time. They have not been sued. It is effective and legal. The whole purpose behind zoning laws is to restrict density.

These homes were not built to be hotels. Although, the person who owned 10131 Lomond Drive was successful in making that house a hotel. It has 9 bedrooms and 5 baths.

How would you like a hotel next to you?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:36:28 +0000

Greg, there is nothing in the International Fire Code the regulates the number of people in a residential dwelling. Those regulations come from Section 404 of the International Property Maintenance Code. Also, IMHO, it is on shaky ground for this reason. In VA local jurisdictions can not amend the building code. The IPMC is Part 3 of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code. Again it may not be amended. What PWC has done essentially is amend the building code through their zoning ordinance. It is only a matter of time before some slick attorney catches on. Manassas City was regulating residential overcrowding through the IFC because the IFC can be amended locally. However, Manassas did not change the language in the IPMC, they just moved it to their local fire code therefore, essentially not changing the VUSBC. This was of course before they decide to try to change the definition of what a family is. On another note, the IPMC regulates the number of people based on several things including the size of ther living room, dining room and bedrooms. Most new houses today are not limited by the living and dining rooms, because they meet minimum standards for an unlimited number of people, but rather the size of the bedrooms which must be a minimum of 70 square feet and 50 square feet per person when two or more occupy the room.