Eyeing the pitfalls of purpose-built student housing and CUPs

Purpose-built student housing has its own category in the San Marcos development code, and on Tuesday council held a brief discussion of the definition of that category to discuss whether it is adequate.

“We have discussed purpose-built student housing, and a few years ago we added that as a category to the code,” Mayor Jane Hughson said. “And as such we also require … a conditional use permit (CUP) for student housing.”

Hughson noted that one of the conditions is to provide a remedy to students if a new student housing project is not ready on time.