Karen Aliff, of Ferndale, wanted a house for her parents, so she sought to build one on her 1-acre property.
After shelling out $10,000 for engineering, Aliff learned right before she was to begin construction that she could not go forward because nearby Ferndale Elementary School is closed to new students, and any new houses may add to the overcrowded school population.
“Who wants their parents living in a basement apartment?” Aliff asked. “Their home is not going to affect the school system at all.”
Aliff?s plight has been showcased before the County Council in recent months, as activist John Pantelides has spoken out against prohibitions of property owners subdividing their land to build houses for relatives in areas where schools are deemed overcrowded.
Pantelides said 53 families are on a waiting list to build houses. According to his calculations, those families would generate 20 students.
“These are mostly family conveyances, and they spent all this money for engineering and told no by the county, because their one lot creates one-fifth of a student,” said Pantelides, of the Alliance for Fair Land Use.
The message resonated with Councilman Ed Reilly, R-District 7, who introduced a bill that would not allow property owners seeking to subdivide their land into five lots or fewer to be affected by housing limits resulting from fluctuations in school populations.
“This hits the little guy,” said Reilly, who has advocated for small-property owners.
The issue is part of a larger controversy surrounding seat availability in schools. Another bill seeks to give the county government more say over which schools are closed to new students and, by default, closing certain properties to residential expansion.
