Should Kent Stop Building Student Housing Complexes?

The idea of putting a moratorium on new, large student housing complexes in Kent prompted the start of a comprehensive housing study for the city.

Kent City Councilman John Kuhar suggested putting a temporary halt on new construction of student apartment complexes at council's meeting Wednesday night, but lack of support on council for the moratorium morphed the idea into a proposal to study the city's housing market.

"We’ve got three very large projects going on right now," Kuhar said. "And I think we need some time for those projects to be completed and gel to see what effect it has on the housing market and the community, so we don’t end up with a bunch of empty facilities around town because we have more housing than people."

Construction , which will bring 596 new beds to South Lincoln Street, and the University Edge complex, which will create about 200 total rental units on Rhodes Road. And Alabama-based Capstone Development Corp. plans to turn the retirement complex, which has about 200 units now, .

The idea of a moratorium gained some support on council, but those who did support it questioned whether council could actually "stop" such construction and development.

“I agree with your thought, but I don’t know that we can do anything about it," Councilwoman Tracy Wallach said.

Other council members, including , opposed the idea of telling private businesses what they can or can't do.

"I don’t think we need to send a message that we’re anti-development, anti-student, anti-anything" Ferrara said.

Kuhar fought to convince opponents of the idea by reminding them he wanted to put the suggestion into a committee meeting for further discussion — not enact it immediately.

"We’re not talking about canceling them," he said. "We’re talking about a moratorium until we see what we already have in progress does to the market."

Still, the idea gained little traction. Instead, Councilwoman Heidi Shaffer suggested the broader idea of creating a comprehensive housing study that would include student housing in an analysis of the city's housing market.

"We already have , and I think we’re just adding other types of housing to this," she said.

Council voted to pass the idea of starting a comprehensive housing study in favor of talking about a potential moratorium. Council members Erik Valenta, Michael DeLeone and Kuhar voted against starting the housing study.

"That wasn’t the intent of the original issue," Kuhar said. "The original issue was we’ve got 1,800 new beds approaching the city of Kent, and before we end up with 3,000 new beds and nothing to put in them, I think we ought to look at it. That’s the issue you need to nip in the bud before it gets out of hand."