Agenda - Planning Commission - 05/02/2002

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MARCH ~002 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Short-Term Vacation Rentals': . ...... · ;'.,. :Reside~fiai:or:i. comm~rclai; USe?. · .~;~ '.~'i;;,':?.~,; i?;:'" '.i~ when people live and ia the same town, where homes aad permanent ~es are o3qen side by side? Americans love to vacation ~s m,,ch ~s thc7 love the~' vacation destinado~s, :md &mo~pM~s Mv~ nodc~. communities in ~he count~resort towns~su~esr that many people are relocating to the places ~at were once j~t summer or weekend getaways. According co Peter Wolf, author or.or ~wns, "A new species of~erican is on ~e move: not, ~ in the p~t, the needy, but the comfortable, well-educated, ~d we~- · ~ained; not the job seekers'~d risk takers, but those ~eisure, choices, and the w~erewit~at co seek out &e bes~.~ By Wolf's estimates, ~is migration includes ~here from 700,000 to 1.6 million people per ye~. The strong 1990s economy brought a wave of second-home purch~ = invmtmen= ~d family retrea=. Resort are~o~tal, mountain, ~d takeside~have what ~ese tren~etters want: natur~ beauW, fresh air, ~d recreation. Communiti= wi~ su~ amenities are prime candidates ~or conflic= in land-~e planning. What happens when people live ~d va~tion in &e s~e town, where vacation hom~ ~d permanent homes are o~en side by side? Regulations that govern short-term rent,s in residential districts are getting more anention = planners ~d residents notice that ~ese vacation homes can have a much greater impact on the communi~ than those rhar house year- round residents. ,~g~ neighbors say short-term rentals look like single4~mily homes but ~nction more like commerciM uses. The crux of the matter for planners is finding a balance beaten the interests of year-round, se~onfl, and vacationing people while considering the effects on proper~ righ=, economic vitaliW, and the sancti~ of residential neighborhoods. wurist- muniries was rake.for .?.;?.':~? . issue of Zomng News. The dynamics va_,-y from one town to the next, but the issue seems to grow more contentious .as more vacationers and year- round residents live next to one another. A survey' of almost 40 tourist-orienmd communities was taken for this issue of Zoning News in order to shed light on this increasingly ve~'dng land-use phenomenon. Relevance and Research Background In 2001, APA's Planning Advisor7 Service recorded an increase in r. he number of inquiries about planning fdr and regulating short-turin rental properties in residential areas--paxdcularl7 single-family disrricrs~ The survey revealed that a significant percentage experienced an increase in conflicts between these and adjacent land wes. While some have recently drafted ordinances to address the short;term rental problem, others are still in the process of doing so or have ~xpressed the need for change, and because resort communir, ies have tiff'trent attitudes toward tourism, each approaches the issue in a different way. Impacts The impact of a short-term vacationer compared with year-round residents can be significant. Seasonal populations live and work' in ~he community, and thus become'somewhat integrated. Naturally, they increase demands on infrastructure and services. Impacts associated with short-term vacationers, however, are more nuisance related, often generating noise and light pollution. General[y, the shorter the stay, the [ess inclined one might be to respect neighbor diplomacy. Late-night music and merrymaking, floodlights, garbage taken out to the street on offdays, dogs at large, illegal parldng, and negligent property maintenance are 2;