City Orders Permits for Landlords of Some Homes : Thousand Oaks: The new law is intended to ease tenant crowding. Critics call it biased.

After a six-hour public hearing, the Thousand Oaks City Council early Wednesday unanimously passed an ordinance that will force landlords to get a permit when renting houses to four or more adults.

Many of the 125 people who jammed City Hall were landlords and real estate agents who accused Thousand Oaks of discriminating against the poor.

Despite the opposition, the council adopted it unanimously, but agreed to delay its enforcement for at least six months to inform landlords of the new rules.

“The ordinance is not perfect. No ordinance of this magnitude is, but I think it’s a beginning, it’s a start,” Councilman Alex Fiore said. “I hope it gets at the real root problem in the community, because I think we do have some serious problems.”

Councilman Frank Schillo proposed changing the ordinance to apply to houses that have five rather than four adult tenants, but his motion was defeated.

The permit requirement affects people “who aren’t really causing the problems,” Schillo said after the vote. “But I lost the vote.”

The ordinance was an attempt to resolve longstanding complaints from homeowners who said crowded houses spur traffic and parking problems and cause an increase in crime.

Critics argued that renters would be subjected to scrutiny, while households where family members do not pay rent would be overlooked.

“You’re trying to make tenants into second-class citizens and landlords into policemen,” said landlord James Nichols. “That’s taking power and authority a little too far.”

Petitions submitted by landlords had 115 signatures in opposition to the permits, which would cost landlords $35 for three years. City planning officials will evaluate the size of the home and number of bathrooms in deciding whether to issue a permit.

Members of a group that represents Thousand Oaks realtors favored sending the ordinance back to the drawing board.

“The ordinance in its present state is way too restrictive,” said Emily Irelan, president of the Conejo Valley Assn. of Realtors. “Thousand Oaks is certainly not the only city dealing with overcrowding, but this ordinance is not the answer.”

City officials have documented only 35 complaints of overcrowding in the last five years, she said.

Other critics were neither landlords nor realtors.

“There’s a lot of racism in here, let’s face it,” said John Ellis, a Thousand Oaks activist for the disabled. “There’s certainly economic discrimination.”

Attorneys at Channel Counties Legal Services, an Oxnard-based law firm that represents the poor in civil matters, decided that Thousand Oaks has no legal ground to impose such regulations, said Executive Director Carmen Ramirez.

“It’s just very poor legislation. This ordinance really takes a sledgehammer to privacy,” she said. “The reality is people do live together so they can afford the rent. Sometimes four to 10 adults in one place do not cause a problem. Sometimes one adult causes a problem.”

Channel Counties has not decided whether to sue the city.

Thousand Oaks is not the first city to limit residential occupancy.

Davis and San Luis Obispo have adopted similar regulations to prevent overcrowding, City Atty. Mark G. Sellers said. Neither city has been challenged in court.

Neighborhood preservationists who supported the council said several homes became deteriorated after what they described as years of inaction by city code enforcement officers.

Several homeowners told the council that they had fled from overcrowded neighborhoods in Los Angeles and wanted to prevent the same transformation in Thousand Oaks.

“We have been looking for nearly a decade for a solution to a problem that would reduce us to the level of the San Fernando (Valley),” said Mary Tapie, a member of the citizens committee that drafted the ordinance.

Landlord Don Volz used lyrics from a popular Broadway musical to describe his frustration.

“We’ve got problems right here in River City,” he said. “It isn’t pool, it’s overcrowding.”