The City Council will vote on first reading on Tuesday night on a revision of the Short Term Vacation Rental ordinance that keeps rentals out of certain districts and sets up limits on the number of new "absentee" rentals.
Four council members said earlier their residents were opposed to having STVRs in the district. The council has had numerous meetings dealing with a number of thorny issues on the rentals in the other five "overlay" districts.
The ordinance to be considered was crafted by Councilwoman Jenny Hill, who merged a version from Councilman Chip Henderson with a proposal from the Kelly administration.
The ordinance sets up a Density Cap of five percent for Absentee rental units in Multi-Family Dwellings such as apartments and condos.
It also says that no Absentee STVR may be located within 500 feet of the nearest Absentee rental within a Single Family Detached zoning district.
Current permitted rentals will be "grandfathered in." That will not apply to some 200 STVRs, which officials said recently are still being operated "illegally" within the city.
The application fee for a homestay (owner occupied) rental will be $500 and the annual renewal fee is $250.
The application fee and renewal fee for an absentee (non-owner occupied) rental will be $750 with $250 of that amount going to the city's Affordable Housing Fund.
The ordinance sets up a new Short Term Vacation Rental Board, that will hear appeals of denials of absentee permits. Also, letters of concern from four neighbors about a new rental will also trigger a hearing by the new board.
The new board will also approve/deny transfers of certificates between owners, approve/deny certificate denial appeals, moderate disputes between property owners, and hear issues of parking, noise, waste management and hours of operation. It will hear density cap disputes and mediate issues between applicants and the Development Review and Permitting Division.
It will have nine members, including five named by the mayor and four by the City Council. The terms will be for two years and initially they will be staggered.
The city's Administrative Hearing Officer will be able to issue fines of up to $500 per violation per day of any infractions of the ordinance.
STVR certificates will be able to be transferred. There is a $1,000 fee related to a transfer request with that entire fee going to the city's Affordable Housing Program.
A moratorium on new absentee rental permit applications that began April 5, 2022, will expire July 10.
The ordinance says that one year from the passage of the ordinance, the City Council will consider lifting the overlay and allowing permitted homestay and absentee rentals citywide.
Click here to read the ordinance.