Borough Council to Discuss Student Housing

will discuss student housing in the borough’s town center on Wednesday night after the issue failed to make the consent agenda at the regular monthly work session. 

The ordinance being considered would prevent any new student housing from being added to the portion of downtown West Chester zoned as “Town Center.”

“This is a density issue,” said council president Holly Brown.  “We’re not trying to segregate students, and we’re not going to throw out any students that current live downtown.  The existing student housing will remain student housing.  This ordinance will prevent any new student housing.”

Currently, students occupy about 25 percent of the residences downtown, and borough council would like that number to remain flat or even decrease.

“This is a density and urban planning issue,” said West Chester mayor, Carolyn Comitta.  “It has nothing to do with students specifically.  If someone wanted to put 10 nursing homes in the downtown we’d have the same conversation.  The issue becomes how we can serve that large of a population with very specific needs.”

Both Comitta and Brown argued that a more diverse population in the downtown would benefit the borough as a whole, citing a recent study on downtown development by the Urban Land Institute.

According to the study, Walkable small towns across the United States are attracting baby boomers and young professionals as choice places to live. In this regard, the Panel remarked on the lack of high-quality housing in West Chester’s downtown as a limiting factor for its growth.”

The idea behind the ordinance is that by eliminating new student housing, the borough can attract more economically desirable residents in the downtown like empty-nesters or young professionals.

“We’re not evicting anyone.  We just don’t want any new housing,” Brown said.