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• CITY OF ATLA DEPARTMENT OF LAW 2614 FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303 FERRIN Y. MATHEWS ROBERT S. WIGGINS MARTIN McFARLAND EDWIN L. STERNE RALPH C . JENKINS JOHN E . DOUGHERTY CHARLES M . LOKEY THOMAS F. CHOYCE JAMES B. PILCHER ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY ASSOCIATE CITY ATTORNEYS HENRY L. BOWDEN CIT Y ATTORNEY August 5, 1969 HORACE T. WARD DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY ROBERT A. HARRIS HENRY M . MURFF CLAIMS ATTORNEYS Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. Mayor City Hall Atlanta, Georgia 30303 JAMES B . HENDERSON SPECIAL ASSOCIATE CITY ATTORNEY Dear Mayor Allen: This letter is written in response to your memorandum dated July 22, 1969, directed to Mr. Henry Bowden and Mr. W. R. Wofford. In this memorandum you requested advice concerning restrictions that might prevent a house located at 1307 Thurgood Street, S. W. from being used as a dwelling place for a number of girls. Attached to your memorandum were copies of petitions signed by Mr. Herman E. Glass and certain concerned citizens. The petition suggested that the girls be allowed to live together as a family on this particular property . The question to be answered in this matter is whether the girls a r e living t ogether as a f amily or occu pying a boarding or r ooming hou se . The above mentioned property is locat ed in a n R- ~ ' zoning di s tr i ct in which boarding or r ooming hous es a r e no t permitt e d. Ano ther City Ordinance requires t hat a licen se b e obtain e d in orde r to ope rate a boarding hou s e. In order for the a rra ngement to satisfy our zoning ordinanc e s, it must be established that the girls are livi ng together a s a family . Article III, Section I (20) define s family as follows~ �Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. August 5, 1969 Page 2 One or more persons occupying a dwelling and living as a single housekeeping unit, as distinguished from persons occupying a boarding house, lodging house, or hotel, as herein defined. The key language in the above definition is "living as a single housekeeping unit. ,r This requires a degree of central management. In the event it can be shown that the girls occupying the house are sharing the rent and expenses and are cooking and eating together, the arrangement would satisfy our definition of family in my opinion. If the individual girls are paying periodic rents to the landlord or his agent for space, it would appear that a boarding or rooming house exists under the zoning ordinance. I trust that the foregoing H1W/cj cc : Hon . Henry Bowden, City Attorney Hon. W. R. Wofford, Bu ilding Official that you requested. �