An Elon town ordinance prohibiting more than three unrelated people from living together in a private residence cannot be modified for Elon students, regardless of their achievements and involvement on campus, the town’s Board of Aldermen stated as an Elon student and her father fought against the law at the board’s agenda-setting meeting in November.

Sophomore Amber Christino lives in an off-campus house with three of her friends, all of whom are Elon students. Her father, Mario, purchased the house in August as an investment for his daughter because she plans to pursue graduate school after Elon.

In compliance with the ordinance, the town has asked that one of the women move out of the four-bedroom house in Providence Place by the end of the semester. Christino and her father said their realtor failed to inform them of the ordinance when they purchased the house.

In mid-September, Mario Christino received a letter from the Board of Alderman, explaining the law and his violation of it. Additionally, a neighbor in Providence Place informed the students of the situation.

Amber Christino, an honor student, and international studies and French major, and her father asked board members to extend the date of compliance to the end of the school year. They highlighted the four Elon students as respectful neighbors and hardworking students and believe that these factors make their request reasonable.

“These girls are model students,” Mario Christino said.

Mayor Jerry Tolley emphasized that the board’s duty to enforce the ordinance, was in place for several decades, makes it impossible to cater to individual requests. Each citizen of the town of Elon must be treated equally, he said.

“This is an unfortunate situation,” he said. “But an ordinance is an ordinance.”

Christino and her roommates are among many Elon students who were forced to comply with this ordinance, though violations usually go unnoticed unless brought to the attention of the board. But once the board becomes aware of a violation, it must enforce it within a reasonable amount of time, Town Manager Mike Dula said.

“We’ve always tried to target some sort of logical time to ask people to move out by,” Dula said.

Burlington, Durham and Greensboro have similar town ordinances, as do most college towns, board members emphasized at the meeting.

“I can understand the reasoning behind the law,” Amber Christino said, “I just feel like it’s sort of unfair that they won’t take into consideration any exceptions.”

Throughout the semester, she and her roommates have strived to accommodate their neighbors’ needs. “We’re just trying to make sure that we’re not being an annoyance,” she said. They try to limit the number of visitors and encourage people to carpool when visiting. They also try to keep their cars in the driveway.

She and her roommates created a petition signed by their neighbors who were not directly involved with the town council, which stated that they welcomed the four students to the neighborhood. She and her father believed that by getting community support, they could help their case.

“We feel like, if anything, we’re positively contributing to our neighbors,” Amber Christino said.

Christino said that living off-campus has improved her organizational and time management skills. “I definitely have seen the benefits of living off-campus – it has been sort of an escape from the college atmosphere.”

“This [off-campus] environment is very conducive to working and studying,” she said.

If given the opportunity to modify the ordinance, it would restrict students living off-campus to one person per bedroom, which would “prevent overcrowding,” and “would really only affect a small part of the population,” she said.

Board members were unable to extend the date of compliance past Dec. 17. Though they initially considered seeking legal assistance, Christino and her father have decided to comply with the ordinance, because they found a sub-letting opportunity for one of the roommates.

“While this decision was not favorable by any means, it was what we were forced to do,” she said.

Reporter: Sarah McGlinchey - 12/05/07