In single-family town houses around Columbia, residents are crowding in ? often 10 people to a house, village managers say ? which leads to parking and noise woes.
“It?s something that?s going to happen more and more. It?s time for the county to look at this,” said Sandy Cederbaum, village manager for Oakland Mills.
In Oakland Mills, residents are concerned about overcrowding in three or four houses, she said.
This issue was among several raised in a meeting Thursday between officials from Columbia?s 10 villages and two Howard County Council members who represent Columbia.
“We get [complaints] regularly” about overcrowding in houses, said Bridget Mugane, president of the Howard County Citizens Association, who represented Long Reach at the meeting.
“I think this goes to our need for affordable housing.”
Zoning regulations don?t limit the number of family members who can live in a home, said Department of Planning and Zoning Director Marsha McLaughlin.
But rental housing codes do have limits, and county officials inspect properties before issuing a rental application, said Bob Frances, of the county?s Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits.
“We do get a lot of calls on overcrowding,” he said.
The issue can be a sensitive one, because some cultures tend to have larger extended families, and there may be “racial and ethnic overtones,” Frances said.
“We want to make sure we are not out there harassing people,” he added.
Often, it takes reaching out to the residents and bringing them into the community, said Councilwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, D-District 4, who said she has dealt with overcrowding in her neighborhood.
Cederbaum agreed, saying, “It is a community effort.”
