But she said Provo's current rules on accessory apartments make it difficult for a senior to bring in someone who can help around the house or help pay some of the bills. That's bad for seniors and Provo, she said.

"What's happening in my neighborhood is the seniors are dying or leaving the neighborhood because they cannot stay in their homes," Mostert said. "Then we get what's happening in other neighborhoods. We get absentee landlords."

It looks like she may have to wait for a change. The Municipal Council voted Tuesday to defer action on an ordinance that would have made it easier for seniors to have renters in their home. Council members said they wanted to address concerns about enforcing the ordinance and preventing homes from being turned into makeshift duplexes.

"I like to know what I am voting for," Councilwoman Sherrie Hall Everett said.

The current city ordinances allow people to have unrelated renters if they have one kitchen in their home, but they cannot if they have a second kitchen, unless they apply to get a change in the zoning and go through building inspections and business licensing.

Under the proposed ordinance, drafted by Council Vice Chairman George Stewart, any homeowner older than 65 living in one of four residential zones can register to have an accessory apartment in their home for a caretaker or someone to help pay the bills. The ordinance would require the senior citizen to actually live in the house. If they moved, sold the property or stopped renting, the house would have to revert back to single occupancy, or the owner would have to sign an agreement permitting them to have a second kitchen.

But a neighborhood chairman warned it would possibly open the door to illegal rentals.

Marian Monnahan, co-chair of the Edgemont neighborhood, said most of the people at her neighborhood meeting who supported the change were under 65. She said those people viewed the ordinance as opening the door for them to have accessory apartments as well.

"I think you are changing the face of Provo forever," Monnahan warned the council. "You are not going to have single-family neighborhoods anymore."

Ray Christensen, co-chairman of the Wasatch neighborhood, said exempting seniors from needing a license or regular inspections treats elderly residents like they are "infants" incapable of complying with city ordinances.

dmeyers@sltrib.com

What's next

The Provo Municipal Council will discuss the ordinance at the Sept. 9 work session, and vote on it at the Sept. 16 council meeting.