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A potential home buyer in Houghton will not be granted a rental license at this time after the Rental Housing Board appeared to be swayed by public comments.
The property in question is at 1008 E. Houghton Avenue and the buyer’s intentions were to rent the house to faculty at Michigan Tech for a couple of years until she can move back to the area.
At the public hearing of the Rental Housing Board Wednesday, City Manager Eric Waara explained that all that was needed was additional driveway space and the property would meet the requirements for the license in an R1 District.
Rental licenses in Houghton are permitted by ordinance in an RI District for a single family or no more than two unrelated persons.
Typically, the board approves such requests with the contingency that the property be brought up to code before the license is granted.
Several letters were read by City Clerk Ann Vollrath and the board heard from many homeowners in the neighborhood–all in opposition to the license request.
Complaints centered mostly around many rental homes having too many residents, too many cars, and poor property maintenance–although there is no indication that would necessarily be the case with this rental unit.
Waara explained that the board has been instructed to take one of three actions—approve the request, approve it with a contingency, or deny it because it does not meet the requirements.
Since there currently is not enough parking space at the house, the board was not under any obligation to approve the license.
The board voted 4-1 (with two members absent) to table the request until they can receive input previously requested from the Planning Commission.
