UPDATE (4/2/2019 5:00 p.m.): The owner of the two houses in Watauga being used as boarding houses has withdrawn her specific use permit application.
On the City of Watauga's website, the city says the two houses were unsuitable for the revisions necessary to accommodate a boarding house.
At this time, there's no word on what will happen to the 16 people currently living in those two houses.
The original story is as follows:
WATAUGA (1080 KRLD) - Some angry Watauga residents will be addressing the city's planning and zoning commission as it considers an application by an out-of-state woman to turn two houses in their neighborhood into boarding houses.
Deborah Smith, 59, of Glendale, Ariz., purchased the two homes, one next door to the other, on Spring Dr. in Watauga's new Parkview neighborhood.
Smith turned those single-family homes into boarding houses for young adults who attend a nearby unaccredited Christian academy.
Nine men live in one of those houses, and seven women live in the other.
That goes against Watauga law, that states that no more than four unrelated adults may live under a single roof.
Christina Cotnoir lives next door to the boarding houses and says this is not what she and her neighbors signed up for when they bought their houses.
"When we signed the paperwork to take ownership of this house, we were told it was a single-family housing development unit, and we were all excited about that," Cotnoir says. "And once we started seeing all these out of state cars show up, we knew there was an issue."
Cotnoir's husband, Ralph, says the people staying in those houses have become nuisances.
"My wife does not feel safe to even walk 200 feet down to the mailbox and back in broad daylight, because we don't know who's here," says Ralph Cotnoir.
Sarah Valdez, who lives in one of those boarding houses, says she doesn't want any trouble.
"Honestly, we don't want to disturb anyone," says Valdez.
The homeowners say one of the big issues is all the cars parked along the street in front of those two houses.
"When all the people drive their cars over here, sometimes there's more than 10 cars parked up and down our street, all from different states," says Laci Loya, who lives across the street from the boarding houses.
Some cars have been parked in front of fire hydrants and in front of homeowners' garages.
"There'd be 14, 15 cars between those two houses," says Ralph Cotnoir. "It's like living in downtown New York. I didn't pay $300,000 to have to tolerate that."
Valdez says she understands the homeowners' concerns.
"I understand that they want the streets to look nice," Valdez says. "We're trying our best to do that. I personally didn't bring my car for that very reason."
Smith has asked the city's planning and zoning commission for a specific use permit to allow the houses to continue being used as boarding houses.
The meeting starts at 6:00 p.m.
