What is the Grouper Law?
In the City of Albany there exists a zoning ordinance which has come to be known as the so-called Grouper Law. This ordinance only permits four or more persons to live in any dwelling unit if they are members of a traditional family or the functional equivalent of a traditional family. Specifically this ordinance states (Family Definition; section 375-7 zoning ordinance): FAMILY • Shall mean • one, two, or three persons occupying a dwelling unit or • four or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a traditional family or the functional equivalent of a traditional family • It shall be presumptive evidence that four or more unrelated persons living in a single dwelling unit do not constitute the functional equivalent of a traditional “family” Therefore, three unrelated persons occupying a dwelling unit is the maximum allowed by this ordinance.
