Six Binghamton University students will have to move out of their home on Binghamton’s West Side, but not until after April 1, the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The students and their landlord were found to be in violation of the city’s R-1 zoning law last semester after a complaint was filed by neighbors. The law stipulates that only residents who are considered to be a “factual and functional family” may occupy houses in certain areas of the West Side.

Teri Rennia, the city council member who represents the area, said that the R-1 zoning law’s purpose is to maintain the integrity of the neighborhood and that the case of 8 Lincoln Ave., where the students live, was not an issue of the town against students, but of the town safeguarding the neighborhood from becoming high density.

Rennia added that though she regretted that the students were caught in the middle of what she considered to be a difficulty between the landlord and the town, that she was happy the Zoning Board had decided to uphold the City’s findings.

Though none of the students are related by blood, they said that they still considered themselves to be a family and over the last few months have been actively fighting the accusations that they had violated any law.

Wednesday night’s open hearing acted as an opportunity for the students to try and convince the Zoning Board to overturn the Office of Building and Construction’s previous findings that they were not a family.

“This is not a house I live in right now, this is my home,” Amanda Scheinson, one of the six residents, testified. “This is my family.”

Five of the six residents, their landlord Ken Dubensky, the property manager Shirley Woodruff, Mr. Dubensky’s lawer Douglas Drazin and a friend of the students all testified that the students did represent a constructed family as outlined in the zoning law. The law is composed of eight criteria that must be met to earn family status, which includes that there be a head of the household and that there may be no locks on bedroom doors within the home.

While the students and friends focused on why they believed they were a family, those in favor of upholding the decision to evict the students spoke instead of bad experiences that they said had been caused by the students, including high noise levels coming from the property and two calls made to the police about the house.

Once the hearing concluded, Drazen noted that the police calls had been made after the citation against the six students was filed and that he believed they were for litigation purposes only.

Before the conclusion of testimony, a resident of 7 Lincoln Ave., who spoke in favor of the eviction, expressed her disappointment in the “demonization” of two of the neighbors, both BU professors, by the press.

In his own testimony, history professor Gerald Kutcher, said that he believed he and his wife Marilynn Desmond had been vilified in the press so as to intimidate them to drop the claim against the students.

However, both professors have refused to talk to Pipe Dream, referring all questions to their legal counsel who have also not returned calls.

In an earlier interview, Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan said that Kutcher and Desmond had used Facebook to compile evidence that the residents were not related.

Though the Zoning Board of Appeals ruled that the students did not meet the definition of a “factual and functional family” and that they must move out of the house, Drazen considered the night to be a victory and while April 1 is the date of compliance set by the board, Drazen was confident that he would be able to file an extension and that the students would not have to move out until the end of the semester.

The residents shared Drazen’s sentiment.

“I’m glad that we’ll still be able to live out the rest of the semester,” said Jim Turbek, a resident of the house who had been designated by the other residents as the head of the household.

Mayor Ryan said that he was also happy with the night’s results and that he wished the students well with the rest of their spring semester.

“This group I think was a good group of kids,” Mayor Ryan said. “But in the end it comes down to trying to protect the integrity of the neighborhood.”

Both Mayor Ryan and Rennia said that there were plans to revisit the R-1 zoning laws in the future but that until they were revised they would continue to be upheld.