Columbia City Council approves freeze on demolition, multi-family building

The Columbia City Council voted to approve a freeze on demolition and building permits within one mile of the University of Missouri’s campus Monday night.

The vote was 5-2 and will be applied to downtown, lasting until December 1, 2016.

The temporary freeze applies to multi-family housing units, something downtown Columbia has seen a boom in for the past few years.

An amendment to how the proposed freeze was presented a couple weeks ago was introduced tonight. The multi-family units the ordinance mentions, means three housing units that all fall on one lot, and would include demolition permits of buildings 50 years or older.

One local landlord called it a violation of property rights for people, saying these developers could build apartments not necessarily geared toward students like many people have cited.

A resident who lives on Hickman Avenue voiced concerns that the buildings would take away the character from the town.