Fayetteville panel eyes ways to manage short-term rentals
FAYETTEVILLE — Proximity to schools should be a factor the Planning Commission weighs when considering short-term rental applications, members of a Fayetteville City Council committee decided Wednesday.
Additionally, more neighbors could receive notification in the mail when a property owner applies to use a home as a short-term rental.
Also, the city may hire someone to oversee enforcement of its short-term rental rules.
The City Council’s Ordinance Review Committee discussed a number of aspects and potential changes to the ordinance regulating shortterm rentals.
D’Andre Jones, Sarah Moore, Scott Berna and Holly Hertzberg serve on the committee.
Bob Stafford, Sarah Bunch and Teresa Turk also joined the discussion.
Short-term rentals are dwellings that have guests for fewer than 30 days at a time.
The city classifies them as Type I or Type II.
Type I rentals are homes with a full-time occupant that typically have a room rented out.
Type II rentals serve guests most of the year without a full-time occupant living on the premises.
Owners of short-term rentals must get a business license and building safety inspection to operate legally in the city and must pay hospitality sales tax.
Type II rental owners must take the additional step of getting a conditional use permit from the Planning Commission.
The council has capped the number of Type II rentals that can operate in the city at 475.
As of Feb. 14, 450 were approved, with 22 in review and 19 applications on a wait list, according to city planning documents.
Committee members agreed the Planning Commission should consider proximity to schools when it reviews short-term rental applications.
Any property within a quarter of a mile of a K-12 school could have its application denied.
Currently, planning commissioners can consider factors such as parking availability, proximity to other short-term rentals and any past zoning or code violations associated with a property.
Additionally, committee members decided neighbors within 300 feet of a property that has a short-term rental application scheduled to be heard by the Planning Commission should get notification in the mail.
For now, neighbors within 200 feet are notified.
The full City Council will have to vote on the changes to make them part of city code.
Development Services Director Jonathan Curth gave the committee an idea of what a city staff position to enforce short-term rental rules might entail.
The process now is complaint-based. The city may have about 250 short-term rentals operating without a license. The staff person would investigate those properties operating illegally, evaluate instances of licensed properties violating rules such as over-occupancy and parking and handle processing to potentially shut off water service if violations persist, Curth said. Hiring a staff person would change enforcement from a complaint-based system to a proactive one and would likely require three-fourths of a full-time position, he said.
Curth said he would present more details about the potential position during the committee’s meeting tentatively scheduled for April 24.
Properties that are illegally operating as short-term rentals or consistently violate the regulations are subject to having water service shut off, rather than having a case referred to the city prosecutor. Property owners can have a hearing with the mayor’s chief of staff to explain the situation before the mayor decides whether to cut off water service.
The process is preferable to referring a case to the city prosecutor, committee members agreed. Assistant City Attorney Hannah Hungate showed the group a chart of the criminal case process, which could take at best six months to resolve in Washington County District Court. If the property owner appeals to Circuit Court, the process could take up to two years, she said.