No Pooler short-term rental ordinance — for now

After calling a special meeting to discuss the proposed short-term rental ordinance, Pooler City Council voted to postpone adopting it after hearing public feedback.

According to Pooler Mayor Karen Williams, the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) notified elected leaders that language could be added to a bill that would be voted on this week before the session ends on March 28. The alert included that the language would likely contain a grandfather clause for properties operating as STRs and make enforcement of STR ordinances impossible over time. Local governments were urged to adopt an STR ordinance if they didn't have one, which Pooler does not.

Williams called the special meeting to urge council to get an ordinance on the books, in case HB 1121 was passed, which would limit control. By the end of the hour-long meeting Wednesday morning, the gathered councilmembers agreed that they may have been rushing into passing an ordinance.

Councilmember John Wilcher voiced several of his concerns at the top of the meeting, including the fact that the meeting was held at 9 a.m. and inaccessible to many people. He thought the meeting should be withheld, mentioning that HB 1121, which would stop local governments from suspending or prohibiting continued use of STRs, hasn't moved since early February.

"We also made promises to our constituents that we're going to hold workshops, that we're going to see what we can do," Wilcher said. "I do believe there's a lot more work that we have to do on this ordinance."

Councilmember Shannon Valim agreed, stating that she hadn't had enough time to review the changes to the draft and would have liked more time to digest it. Pooler city staff had been making updates to the draft up until 9 p.m. Tuesday night, according to Williams.

Williams also proposed a few changes to the draft at the recommendation of city attorney Craig Call. Notably, she suggested that under the requirement of notification to adjacent property owners, that the burden to turn in the notices be on the applicant of the STR instead of the adjacent owners. Wilcher said he thought the section that requires notification be deleted in its entirety, and some property owners agreed, suggesting that the ordinance infringed on property rights.

One resident disagreed and said that it was "vitally important" for adjacent property owners to be notified of an STR for safety reasons.

"The way I'm looking at the entire ordinance is kind of comparing them to long-term ordinances," Wilcher said. "We have to have a middle ground. Do we require long-term rentals to acquire business licenses to preform what they do? Do we require a long-term rental to notify other adjacent property owners they're going to rent their property?"

Residents voiced a slew of concerns regarding the speed with which the ordinance was being pushed through, and specific sections of the ordinance they thought needed work. Matt Campbell, who owns a governmental relations firm, noted that having a registry of rental properties was already against Georgia code, and urged the council to slow down since the session ends Thursday.

Mayor Pro Tem Aaron Higgins motioned to postpone the second reading and adoption, which passed unanimously. Williams said she supports the decision to postpone, but also stands by her decision to call a special meeting.

Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com