The Providence Village Town Council explored its options for limiting short term rentals during its Tuesday Town Council meeting.
Prompted by a proposed ordinance that would regulate short-term rentals, the council members said they would want to pair the change with zoning changes that establish set areas in town where such rentals could be.
“At the time [in May of 2022], finding a clear path to regulate short-term rentals was not abundantly clear,” Town Manager Brian Roberson said. “There were several lawsuits underway and challenges and things of this nature going on. … There’s a little more clarity now than there was three years ago.”
Some questions, such as whether cities can ban shortterm rentals outright, are still awaiting an answer in the legal system.
Two residents spoke against short-term rentals.
Eric Alsop, who lives within the Providence Homeowners Association, spoke in opposition to short term rentals.
“I worry about the short term rentals … changing the community … or just converting more housing stock,” he said. “Even long-term rentals, people that live here in long-term rentals, the come to our schools, they participate, they’re all part of this. And I worry about converting more housing stock into this short-term, quasi-hotelstyle stuff would reduce the community cohesion.”
Elise Jumbelick, who lives within the Landing Homeowners Association, also spoke about her concerns regarding short-term rentals.
“I kind of feel like HOAs are already trying to get this under control,” she said. “… You guys were here when rental restrictions went into place. You saw that the community did not want rentals, and that still rings true in the community.”
She suggested that if any short-term rentals were allowed that the city restrict them to specific zoning types.
That suggestion was in line with the mayor and council’s requests of the town staff.
The current lack of rules on the books in either the code of ordinances or the zoning ordinances could be interpreted as either a ban on such businesses or a gap that allows them in any zoning type, a legal ambiguity that could open the town up to a lawsuit.
“This isn’t just meant to open the doors to STRs,” Town Attorney Fritz Quast said. “I think we have a good argument that they’re not allowed here.”
Inman, supported by the council members present, said she wanted to work on the zoning restrictions before voting on the proposed ordinance.
“I would like a zoning ordinance first before we put rules around something that we don’t allow,” Inman said.
She added that she was concerned that having the ordinance without changing the zoning rules could be confusing.
Quast also asked the council to think about other restrictions if a court ruling prevents municipalities from banning shortterm rentals in single-family or multi-family zoning districts.
The council tabled the ordinance and asked staff to bring zoning rules related to short-term rentals to the council.
Also on Tuesday, the council accepted the resignation submitted by Wes Dautrich on Sept. 1, and it established the process for filling the vacancy.
The application is available at bit.ly/48m6oLP and open until Oct. 24, and the council will meet on Oct. 29 to interview the candidates.
The new council member will be selected on Nov. 4.
Also in the meeting, the council also passed an ordinance limiting portable on demand storage unit containers to people’s driveways to try to prevent them from being stored on the street.
At the start of the meeting, the code compliance staff was recognized for the work they do in honor of National Code Compliance Month.
“We appreciate everything that they do daily,” Inman said. “They’re actually much more than code enforcement. They do so many things on a daily basis that aren’t really within their job description, but they’re such great team players.”
In addition, the town council made an accounting change to account for the money that was needed from the general fund to pay for the shortfalls in the utility fund.
The change reflects money already withdrawn from the general fund, not new additional funding.
“This is more of an accounting treatment than anything,” Inman said.
