Committee Report - Leg Matters - 10-8-14 — File 197810

October 8, 2014 Legislative Matters Committee Page 1 of 2 Printed 10/9/2014 REPORT OF THE LEGISLATIVE MATTERS COMMITTEE Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Rebekah L. Gewirtz Chair Present Mary Jo Rossetti Vice Chair Present John M. Connolly Alderman At Large Present Matthew McLaughlin Ward One Alderman Present William A. White Jr. Alderman At Large Present Others present: Alderman Tony Lafuente, Alderman Katjana Ballantyne, Alderman Mark Niedergang, Alderman Dennis Sullivan, Solicitor Frank Wright, Asst. Solicitor David Shapiro, Omar Boukili - Mayor's Office, Michael Glavin - OSPCD, Barbara Rubel - Tufts 197473 - Proposing an amendment to the City's Ordinances to regulate University Accountability.: This item was based on a City of Boston ordinance with the intent of assisting various city agencies to better protect the health, safety and welfare of students, residents and property. Information about off campus living is available on Tufts’ Residential Life website, however, there is no mention of Somerville’s ordinance regarding the number of unrelated persons allowed to live together. Members of the committee feel that incoming students should be informed of the city's zoning ordinances by Tufts. Tufts wants to work with the city on this issue and is working on a program that would prevent students from registering for classes unless they have provided the university with a living address. However, Tufts doesn't want to be perceived as the enforcer of the city's regulations and would like to have a conversation about this. Mr. Wright and Mr. Shapiro spoke about penalties for failure to comply, noting that such penalties are not spelled out in the ordinance. The Law Department will follow up on this and report back to the committee. Additionally, the Law Department will determine if any other school owns property in the city, since the city could only enforce this ordinance locally. It was understood that tenant overcrowding is not just a problem with the student population, therefore, members stated their desire for ISD to enforce the current ordinance that deals with this. Members of public spoke favorably on the proposed ordinance, discussing the student housing lottery, student enrollment, lack of on campus housing, miscommunication about the data being collected, public safety and possible socio-economic divisions.

Committee Meeting October 8, 2014 Legislative Matters Committee Page 2 of 2 Printed 10/9/2014 Alderman Rossetti’s motion that a representative of the city’s Inspectional Services Department be present at all future meetings where this item is scheduled for discussion, was approved. RESULT: KEPT IN COMMITTEE