The College Park City Council narrowly passed the extension of the city’s rent control law Tuesday night, voting 5-4, with Mayor Stephen Brayman casting the tiebreaking vote.

The highly contentious ordinance is despised by landlords, who said it discriminates against students and unfairly exempts apartment buildings. But advocates for the law argued it keeps rent manageable and maintains a balance between owner-occupied and rental houses in the city.

District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich and Brayman, who both favored the extension, said they believe the ordinance has not reached its full effectiveness because of the litigation against the city by landlords.

“My concern is that we have not had an opportunity to implement this and to fully administer it,” said Brayman. “I’m not convinced that we’ve done any harm or that the continuation of this will do any harm.”

The landlords’ lawsuit, Alan Tyler et al. v. College Park, argued the law discriminated against students. It was dismissed by a county judge last year, but the landlords have appealed.

The ordinance caps rent for single-family homes at $2,187 a month or at 0.6 percent of the property’s assessed value in July 2007, whichever is the greater amount. Multifamily homes are allowed slightly higher rates, but apartments are exempt.

The councilmembers who voted against extending the law cited a variety of reasons. District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin, who had previously said the council still wanted to see more student housing built, ultimately voted to not extend the ordinance.

“I have been on the fence,” Catlin said. He explained that the new South Campus Commons apartment building opening in January and the Oakland Hall dorm, which is set to open in fall 2011, seem to offer enough student housing.

District 4 Councilwoman Karen Hampton said the law has served what she considered its “short-term purpose.”

District 2 Councilman Jack Perry, who has strongly expressed his desire to cut spending in the past, said the $145,000 the city has spent on rent stabilization should be used elsewhere.

“[The ordinance] should just die a natural death,” Perry said.

Property owners, clearly upset by the vote’s outcome, maintained the law is unfair. Lisa Miller, president of Prince George’s County Property Owners Association, said it’s evident the city’s only goal is to increase the proportion of owner-occupied houses to rentals, as officials stated in their city plans.

“Everything else is just a storyline to support that goal. Period,” Miller said.

Although no other students showed up for the vote, city council student liaison Jonathan Sachs said he thinks this is a win for the student population.

“[The ordinance is] one of the things we can do to ease students’ adjustment to living off-campus in the city,” Sachs said. He added that he plans to focus on off-campus housing issues as liaison this year.

Sachs said he was not concerned that no apartment amendment was added.

“I think, in the current climate, that wasn’t really a reality. It was more of a desire,” he said. “But once we do get the new buildings actually online and they’re not just moving around dirt, we should extend it to apartments.”

Some students who live off-campus said they were disappointed by the vote.

“I think that the law seems to favor citizens of College Park more than the students at the university,” said Deidra O’Brien, a graduate student who has lived in College Park for five years and now lives in the Wynfield Park apartments across from the IKEA on Route 1. “I’m not sure what they’re trying to accomplish. If they’re trying to protect all citizens of College Park and students at the university that are renters, they should extend it to encompass all rental properties.”

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