Hoping to stem the proliferation of “group homes” in residential neighborhoods, the Hinesville City Council recently amended the city’s zoning ordinance to clarify the definition of family and restrict the number of unrelated persons allowed to reside in single-dwelling units.
According to the new wording of the ordinance, a family is “two or more persons residing in a single-dwelling unit where all members are related by blood, marriage, or adoption up to the second degree of consanguinity, or by foster care.”
And for the purposes of this revised definition, “consanguinity” means only “husbands and wives, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces and first cousins.”
The amended regulation makes it unlawful for occupants or homeowners of any single dwelling unit zoned in a single-family residential district or neighborhood to have more than two unrelated individuals residing in the home.
The one family per dwelling rule still applies in multifamily zoning districts, but if the home is not occupied by a family, then the number of unrelated individuals living in the residence cannot exceed the number of bedrooms.
When a home is located in any zoning district other than a residential-type district, family “related by blood, marriage, adoption or foster care may have two additional unrelated individuals” living in the home, but unrelated individuals may not exceed a four person maximum.
The new standards become effective Feb. 1, 2008, but residents currently not in compliance with the regulations have until Nov. 2, 2008 to come up to code.
For more details on the changes to the zoning ordinance, call Hinesville City Hall at 876-3564.
According to the new wording of the ordinance, a family is “two or more persons residing in a single-dwelling unit where all members are related by blood, marriage, or adoption up to the second degree of consanguinity, or by foster care.”
And for the purposes of this revised definition, “consanguinity” means only “husbands and wives, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces and first cousins.”
The amended regulation makes it unlawful for occupants or homeowners of any single dwelling unit zoned in a single-family residential district or neighborhood to have more than two unrelated individuals residing in the home.
The one family per dwelling rule still applies in multifamily zoning districts, but if the home is not occupied by a family, then the number of unrelated individuals living in the residence cannot exceed the number of bedrooms.
When a home is located in any zoning district other than a residential-type district, family “related by blood, marriage, adoption or foster care may have two additional unrelated individuals” living in the home, but unrelated individuals may not exceed a four person maximum.
The new standards become effective Feb. 1, 2008, but residents currently not in compliance with the regulations have until Nov. 2, 2008 to come up to code.
For more details on the changes to the zoning ordinance, call Hinesville City Hall at 876-3564.
