Orange City Council housing ordinance to limit Chapman disturbances

As Chapman’s enrollment grows, so does student demand for housing, resulting in the city council restricting what can be built in Orange accessory dwelling units. Panther Archives

When local resident Sharon Welch moved into Orange in the 1980s — a time when Chapman University had less than 1,500 students enrolled — she never imagined local college students would curse at her to “move out” and “get a life.” But, after approximately 10 Chapman University students recently moved into a house on her street, the nightmare began.

“They started having beer parties, throwing cans and bottles all over the front yard (and) parking their cars up on the front yard,” Welch said in a public comment at a special Orange City Council meeting Feb. 16. “This is what I'm living with … It's becoming a nightmare.”

To address these problems residents like Welch are facing, the Orange City Council voted unanimously Feb. 16 to enact an urgency ordinance that limits the number of bedrooms or bathrooms that can be expanded to existing residential structures for 45 days. Due to this initiative, developers will not be able to construct accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — smaller, secondary houses that share the building lot of a larger, primary house —  solely to fit the lot styles popular among college students.

With approximately 10,000 students currently enrolled, neighborhood complaints have grown in the past few years as Chapman has grown and students have moved into ADUs throughout the City of Orange. Arianna Barrios, a Orange City Council member, told The Panther that recent changes in state ADU laws have made Orange a target for developers seeking to maximize profits by purchasing homes on residential lots and adding multiple bedrooms and bathrooms with the goal of renting to college students.

“What raised the alarm is having houses that were becoming fraternities in single-family neighborhoods,” Barrios said. “It’s unfair to a resident to allow the permitting of a fraternity next to a house with small children. That’s just not what the neighborhood is about.”

Additionally, the Orange Planning Commission voted unanimously Feb. 17 to recommend a new ordinance to the City Council that proposes changes in regard to building ADUs in Orange. These restrictions include only allowing one bedroom for every 500 square feet, prohibiting bedrooms with direct outside access, preventing microwaves, sinks and refrigerators in bedrooms and prohibiting advertisement for individual bedrooms. Additionally, the ordinance would prevent ADUs with “boarding house” or “dormitory” qualities in single-family zones.

Barrios explained that ADUs were originally intended to help address Southern California’s housing crisis. Many of these structures — which can sometimes house up to 12 individuals — often stand next to other homes with families and children, leading to an increase in neighborhood complaints. Additionally, expanding homes often removes a functional driveway and garage in order to fit more bedrooms. More bedrooms, and in turn more residents, leads to more cars with almost nowhere to park on the street.

“Our neighborhood is no longer as pleasant,” Laurie Phillips wrote in a public comment to Orange City Council, contrasting the current state of her neighborhood to the last 16 years of living in Orange. “Students living in these homes park on the parkways, sometimes on grass in the front yard and even on the sidewalk. They block sidewalks with their cars, park in front of fire hydrants, park on corner curves and park in the bike lanes.”

Tony Trabucco, president of the Old Towne Preservation Association, emphasized how the increase in ADUs in Old Towne Orange has created a “less-than-ideal” situation for the community.

“Chapman University has made great strides in recent years to provide additional on-campus housing, and the community is very thankful for that, but additional Chapman-owned on-campus housing is still badly needed,” Trabucco wrote in an email to The Panther. “While the presence of Chapman University in the community provides clear benefits to us all, the university should continue to strive to increase its ability to provide on-campus housing to satisfy the demand.”

Karmen Pantoja, a senior political science and peace studies double major at Chapman, lives in an Orange house with five roommates, her second year in off-campus housing. Pantoja expressed she has a close relationship with her neighbors, who are long-term Orange County residents and often offer to watch over Pantoja’s house when she and her roommates are away.

“Demand for off-campus housing is pretty high, but we need to also remember that we are in Orange, alongside the community residents,” Pantoja said. “How do we find something that is agreeable to both parties? How do we work to make both sides happy about it? Those are the questions that should be asked.”

Alisa Driscoll, the interim vice president of community relations at Chapman, gave a public comment at the Orange Planning Commission meeting to clarify that apartment-style Chapman housing, like Panther Village, the Chapman Grand Apartments and The K Residence Hall, will not be not affected by the proposed ordinance.

Although the Orange City Council halted the expansion of current structures for only 45 days, Orange Mayor Mark Murphy said the council can continue pushing that date back as needed — a moratorium that could last up to a full year. 

“I don’t think most of the students are intending to have negative impacts on the neighborhood,” Murphy told The Panther. “This sort of deal with putting what could be considered a boarding house in a single-family residential lot is just not what was intended and frankly shouldn’t be legal.”