Council mulls transient rental ordinance

MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2020

Following discussions during a July 20 City Council Legislative Committee meeting, the city of Vermilion has put a transient rental ordinance back up for debate after years of onand-off conversations.

The ordinance would require a yearly renewal and inspections completed for rental properties, whether bed and breakfasts, Airbnbs or other vacation rental sites.

The topic was brought up again during an Aug. 17 legislative meeting, where Councilwoman at Large Monica Stark presented the city of Huron’s newly passed transient rental ordinance.

Stark said the subcommittee plans to use the ordinance as a model for its own.

“It’s a very well-written ordinance,” she said.

Huron’s legislation

The city of Huron passed an ordinance mandating a registration program and expansion of a lodging tax in March.

The registration program includes inspections and annual certification, as well as an additional three percent lodging tax, on top of Erie County’s four percent tax.

The city’s website said the purpose of the registration program is “to set standards that address public safety issues while providing a revenue source to offset costs related to public safety and zoning enforcement efforts.”

A rental property is defined by the city as a dwelling unit or residential premises made available as a rental space.

A transient guest is one who spends fewer than 30 consecutive days in the unit or premises.

Each year, the rental owner is required to submit the rental application and $400 fee, where an inspection appointment is made via phone call.

After passing the inspection, the owner will receive a certificate to display on the property.

The property then must be registered with Erie County, where the three percent tax is submitted alongside the county tax every 15th of the month.

Council debate

Stark said a few pieces of the ordinance need tweaking to fit Vermilion, including a $300 annual fee instead of a $400 one, as per building inspector Bill DiFucci’s request.

She said the city hopes to have an ordinance established by November or December.

“It’s not going to hit this season whatsoever,” Stark said.

After the subcommittee meets again and will write MORNINGJOURNAL.COM the ordinance — which also will look into inspections for hot tubs and pools on the rental property — it will appear again at the next legislative meeting Sept. 21.

Service director Tony Valerius said during the Aug. 17 meeting that inspections in the rental properties mainly would just be safety based, including hand rails, safety detectors and outlets.

Ward 4 Councilwoman Barb Brady said it is particularly difficult when a rental property owner lives out of town and is hours away from the property, making surveillance and maintenance difficult.

Stark said keeping the certificate of verification in the window will keep neighbors from making unnecessary calls when seeing people coming and going from different buildings.

“We don’t want our police department to be overwhelmed with calls ... It’s just a courtesy to let the neighborhood know, hey, this is a transient rental,” she said.

Council president Steve Herron emphasized that the registration and inspections are for safety purposes.

“We have overdoses in these houses,” Herron said. “We have things going on that nobody knows what’s happening, when the police show up they don’t know who’s there.

“There’s serious things going on. In this day and age, it’s a very legitimate business, it’s a very good business that people have ... but we want to know what’s going on.”

Local business response

Several rental property owners spoke during the meeting and discussed the positive experiences they have with guests.

The owners said they hope the ordinance doesn’t harm the rental properties and the city’s tourism.

Old Vermilion Jailhouse Bed and Breakfast owner Markos Paradissis said displaying a certificate in particular, could harm his business.

“Why do you have to put a scarlet letter on a home?” Paradissis asked. “When you have people drawn to that, it could be a bad element.”

He advised distributing a registered rental list to the Vermilion Police Department instead.

JORDANA JOY — THE MORNING JOURNAL Lakeland Lodges, 13115W. Lake Road, is one of the many rental properties in Vermilion utilized by tourists. The lodge, among every other rental property, would be mandated to be registered annually with the city if a transient rental ordinance were to pass in the city.