Despite earlier student and landlord concerns, DeKalb residents are not plotting total rezoning of an area where NIU students find low-cost housing, the 5th Ward alderman said.

Bessie Chronopoulos said rezoning might still be a solution, but that is not the purpose of the citizens’ committee which is forming to consider improvements to the College and John streets and Augusta Avenue area.

“The area has been a concern over the years,” she said. Permanent residents will look into issues such as student safety, noise and other violations as well as the aesthetic and historical values of houses in the neighborhood, she said.

One possible solution involves rezoning the area from multi-family to the more restrictive single-family designation.

The idea for the committee came about in September when concerned residents of the neighborhood met to exchange ideas and vent their frustrations, Chronopoulos said.

“This movement is not anti-student,” she said.

“We want to have a neighborhood organization that can do lobbying od the City Council,” she said.

The organization has to decide first what problems it will tackle, said group President Paul Rogers. This is difficult because the diverse group includes single-family home owners, student and non-student tenants nd landlords, Rogers said.

The committee is forming “so everyone who lives there can have a better environment,” he said.

DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said he feels the City Council will sympathize with the committee’s concerns.

However, Sparrow said he felt the best solution to the area’s problems would be a permanent neighborhood watch group similar to the coalition in the 3rd ward.

Jennifer Novak, Student Association community affairs advisor, said she was pleased that the residents who met in September are interested in finding a compromise.

The SA will follow the situation, she said.

The committee will meet on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the DeKalb Municipal Building, Chronopoulos said.