Williamsburg Zoning Administrator Rodney Rhodes released a list of the nine houses that have been served notices for violating the city’s three-person ordinance Wednesday.

The names of individuals published have been confirmed by Rhodes to have been served notices.

Check back with Flathatnews.com for more in-depth coverage of this story in the next issue and over finals and Winter Break.

*113 Matoaka Ct.*
MKF LLC – Property Manager
Lauren Cheniae
Caitlin Marotta
Emily Wood
Elizabeth Stump
Ashley Timms

*122 Matoaka Ct.*
MKF LLC (Property Managers)
Clare Lee Leguyader
Susanne Figuers
Courtney Alles
Katherine Radloff

*128 Matoaka Ct.*
Landlord – Christine and Forrest Williamson
Stephanie Gerow
Molly Kaye
Katherine Yount
Annie Macomber
Joan Zimmeck

*201 Matoaka Ct.*
Landlord – Randall Hawthorne
Chase Hill
Nicholas Dewispelaere
James Hobson
Carl Watts
Tyler Miller

*207 Matoaka Ct.*
Landord: Robert Cyphers
Clinton Schiavone
Gregory White
Robert McEntee
Jonathan Mann

*206 Nelson Ave.*
Landlord: Constantine Tsamouras
Shannon More
Vicky Chao
Alisan VanFleet
Claire Habig
Teresa Crockett

*119 Griffin Ave.*
Landlord: Kevin and Kathy Green
Stevi Anderson
Julia Applebaum
Kristin Fimian
Hailey K. Hewitt
Megan Burke
Tamara Sweetnam

*204 Harrison Ave.*
Landlord information not provided
Christina Arredondo
Anna Brousell
Laura Derby
Jessica Dupont
Caitlin Horan
Audrey Siple

*219 Harrison Ave.*
Landlord: Harrison Ventures (Property Manager)
Sarah Beck
Roxanne Lepore
Caroline Groom
Camilla Hill
William Busching
Heather Bryant
Adriane Lepore

Nearly four months after a fire destroyed Williamsburg’s local Italian restauran, Sal’s by Victor reopened at a temporary location Nov. 21.

For the 35 years before the fire, Sal’s had closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Owner Victor Minichiello said community support for the restaurant’s return was overwhelming.

“It was a beautiful thing,” Minichiello said. “It’s been incredible. We have the same food, and we have the same people coming. Just incredible.”

The June 28 fire at the original Sal’s location in the Williamsburg Shopping Center destroyed the restaurant and damaged several adjacent businesses. The restaurant has reopened for the time being at the former location of at Scala Pizzeria and Tavern on Richmond Road.

“We opened up at 1425 Richmond Road temporarily, where Scala’s used to be,” Minichiello said. “It’s very close to IHOP, and just across from High Street.”

Sal’s by Victor open again, for now from Flat Hat on Vimeo.

Although he had moved his restaurant to a different location for the first time in over three decades, Minichiello said the reopening was gratifying.

“It was like a baby,” he said. “You waited for four months for the stork to come, and we finally get it when [Sal’s] reopens. It was incredible.”

The restaurant’s change of scene has not affected its ambiance.

“We were the first place to open for people at the College of William and Mary 35 years ago, and we appreciate everything the community has done for us,” Minichiello said. “But everything’s going to stay the same. We’ve got all the same stuff, the same food, everything.”

Minichiello hopes to move back to the more familiar location by the spring.

“This location is just temporary,” Minichiello said. “They gave me my old place back, so we’ll go back to the old place in the Williamsburg Shopping Center in the spring when it’s ready.”

The City of Williamsburg’s recent enforcement of the three-person rule dominated Monday’s discussion between city leaders and representatives from the College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly.

Within the past three weeks, the city has issued several notices of compliance to the tenants, landlords and property managers of nine local houses. Residents from each of the homes have been confirmed as students at the College.

“Even though we were heard, we were told that they are going enforce [the ordinance],” SA Chief of Staff Charles Crimmins J.D. ’10 said. “I took that as meaning nothing’s changed.”

The city’s three-person rule prohibits more than three unrelated individuals from sharing a housing unit. In recent years, the ordinance has proven to be a controversial sticking point between city residents and students.

The notices came on the heels of the Williamsburg Planning Commission’s decision to recommend that the city’s B-3 district be rezoned to permit up to four unrelated individuals to share a multi-family housing unit.
The Williamsburg City Council will vote on the recommendation, as well as other proposed changes to the ordinance, Dec. 10.

“I took action when I had evidence in hand,” Williamsburg Zoning Adminstrator Rodney Rhodes, who issued the notices, said. “I got some information on all these houses at the same time.”

It is unclear what effect the notices will have on future discussions regarding the policy. Over the past year, a city-sponsored focus group and the planning commission have debated the issue extensively, but they have failed to reach a consensus outside of the B-3 agreement.

“I think these are the enforcement of individual cases,” City Manager Jack Tuttle said. “The policy is the
longer, bigger picture.”

City and student leaders had difficulty reconciling the two. Because the city is treating each case separately, and as strictly an enforcement measure, SA advocacy on behalf of the affected student tenants beyond a policy standpoint is impossible.

Student Legal Services Director Ryan Ruzic J.D. ’10, who also serves as SA vice president, announced Monday that SLS will provide free legal consultation to any students affected by the ordinance.

Student leaders were quick to point out that the date by which compliance must be reached — Jan. 5, 2010 — will be inconvenient to student renters who may be forced to move back on campus. Dormitories are not scheduled to reopen until Jan. 15.

“We think that students should be eligible for an extension,” SA President Sarah Rojas ’10 said.
Rhodes said that the city would consider requests for an extension on a case-by-case basis.

“We need to get to the root of the problem,” Crimmins said. “These citations do not solve the problem.”
Zack DeMeola J.D. ’10 said that evidentiary bias and incentive disparity are the primary student concerns that should be addressed by any future change to city policy.

Because students’s off-campus addresses are frequently listed in the student directory, it is easy for city officials to confirm violations of the three-person rule. Non-student renters, however, are unlisted in city directories. They are therefore more difficult to prosecute for violating the ordinance.

“A lot of students opted out of putting their name in the directory [last year], so it wasn’t an effective tool,” Rhodes said, referring to the dramatic increase in reported violations this academic year. “I had more evidence this year than I have in the past.”

Rhodes added that he could remember only one case in which violators of the ordinance were found not to be students, but that he is currently investigating a similar complaint.

DeMeola said that renters found to be living in violation of the ordinance are subject to de facto eviction. Although the city does not physically evict tenants, those found to be in violation face stiff fines for their
failure to comply.

This forces some tenants to find new housing, and the tenants who remain on the lease now must split the rent among fewer people; this drives driving up individual rent. Landlords, on the other hand, incur no additional costs after being found in compliance. Rent does not decline based on the number of paying tenants.

“Students are disproportionately affected by this,” Rojas said.

The recently amended noise ordinance was also discussed at the meeting. Williamsburg Police Chief Mike Yost said that since the ordinance was amended no warrants have been issued for violators.

Of the 18 noise ordinance violations issued since its enactment in August, 10 went to three individual houses, two of which have since been cited as having more than three unrelated residents.

The College of William and Mary’s Dining Services will offer new meal plan options at Alan B. Miller Hall’s Boehly Cafe and at the Marketplace beginning next semester. These changes reflect student demand and aim to increase the number of meal plans purchased by students.

The Boehly Cafe will offer a meal plan option on a trial basis. The Boehly Cafe’s meal plan option will resemble that of the Dodge Room, consisting of salads or sandwiches, a drink and sides.

“During this trial period of the spring semester, we will be evaluating the [Boehly Cafe] program and we will need to see if it is able to continue on a permanent basis based on the participation, as well as some other important factors including the impact to the operating hours, staffing, service standards, cleanliness and seating,” Director of Dining Services Matt Moss said in an e-mail to Student Assembly Undersecretary for Dining Services Salil Singhal ’12.

Singhal serves as the student liaison for Aramark, the College’s food provider.

“[Having a meal plan at Miller] was my idea. I talked to Matt Moss about it. I was told the probability of that happening was very low,” Singhal said. “When they were putting in the cafe, there was absolutely no discussion of a meal plan. It was supposed to be a cafe atmosphere. They did not see a meal plan fitting into that atmosphere.”

In response, Matthew Thames ’10 started a Facebook group called “Meals at Miller” to garner student support. Over 300 members joined within three weeks. The group encouraged students to send e-mails in support of creating a meal plan option to Moss.

According to Singhal, Moss received over 100 e-mails from students, 70 of which arrived during a two-day period. Singhal said that after The Flat Hat’s Nov. 17 article on the issue, Moss received even more student response supporting the move.

“Student support is the only reason there is a meal plan in Miller Hall,” Singhal said. “It really shows that dining services is willing to work with students. A few months ago they were against [a meal plan option at Boehly Cafe] and [were] really adamant about that, and student support really changed that.”
Dining Services is also making changes to the Marketplace to reflect student demand.

“As of now, there will be a Chinese food option placed in the Marketplace, [but we are] waiting for 100 percent confirmation,” Singhal said. “It will have a rotating option for meal plan.”

It will replace HomeZone, which has statistically had the lowest performance. Dining Services decided Chinese food is a comparable replacement for stir fry, one of the most popular items at the station. Overstuffed sandwiches, another high-demand food at Homezone, will likely be moved to Montague’s Deli.
The sushi bar will also become a meal plan option because of student support.

According to Singhal, adding a meal plan option to Boehly Cafe, an upscale dining facility, would be at a loss to Dining Services because a single meal is cheaper than the cost of the same amount of food if sold individually. However, they hope that an increase in meal plan purchases will cover the difference.

“Students have told us that they would be basing their decision on continuing on the meal plan program solely based on availability to use Miller Hall as an option,” Moss said. “We would like to see not only continued participation, but we need to see that students that have not been on the program buy in so that we do not affect other locations on campus.”

Singhal said that after having a record high number of students registered for meal plans last spring, the College experienced a decrease this year. While this has not caused significant cost-cutting changes, it did factor into the decision to close the Sadler Center an hour earlier on weekdays.

“If the trend continues, it could be devastating to the College,” Singhal said. “Meal plans are the backbone of Dining Services.”

To increase meal plan registrations and to ensure that students register early, Dining Services is offering $25 in Flex Points to students who purchase a meal plan now for the spring. The points can be used during either semester.

Dining Services has also been modifying the Student Exchange to address the decrease in traffic. Changes include removing an under-performing coffee machine, introducing new gourmet options from a third-party vendor, and providing more frozen options. A fountain drink station will be introduced and, in reflection of a campus-wide effort to increase sustainability, some of the bottled beverages will be removed. The hours of operation will also be extended on weekends.