BACKGROUND
On June 8, 2016, at the request of Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman, the City Commission referred the subject ordinance to the Land Use and Development Committee and Planning Board (Item C4Q). On June 15, 2016, the Land Use and Development Committee discussed the ordinance and recommended that the Planning Board approve the item.
On August 23, 2016 the Planning Board reviewed the Ordinance and transmitted it to the City Commission with a favorable recommendation.
On October 19, 2016, the City Commission reviewed the Ordinance at First Reading. The City Commission requested additional modifications to the Ordinance, pertaining to unit ownership and allowable short and long term rental periods. Due to the changes necessary to accommodate these changes, the Title of the Ordinance needed to be modified, and the ordinance was re-referred back to the Planning Board for review.
PLANNING ANALYSIS
The proposed ordinance amendment modifies section 142-1111(b)(4), of the Land Development Regulations to reopen the window for ‘contributing buildings’ located south of West 24th Terrace in the Collins Waterfront Local Historic District to apply for a certificate of use to permit short-term rentals. A three month window was previously provided by the City Commission on February 11, 2015. The revised proposed ordinance would provide for a window between April 1, 2017 and September 30, 2017 to apply for short-term rentals.
The previous window allowed for the Tradewinds building complex, which had been renovated, to allow for short-term rentals. However, there was some uncertainty with other buildings in the applicable boundaries of the Collins Waterfront area, in which some other owners believed that they were grandfathered to allow for short-term rentals. As a result of this uncertainty, other buildings in the area did not meet the benchmarks required to allow for the entire building to permit short-term rentals. Owners within these buildings have expressed support to allow for short-term rentals, especially since many of the units are small, and therefore not ideal for long-term rentals.
In addition to the modification noted above, the ordinance has been updated to remove the requirement that short term rental use shall be based on a single use for the property. This requirement had prohibited short term rentals in buildings that also have non-transient residential uses. In this regard, the following language is proposed for section 142-1111 (b)(3)(E):
(E) Short-term rental use shall be based on a single use for the property. No building or property seeking to have short-term rentals will be permitted to have mixed residential uses.
Residential Apartment units and townhomes, as defined in section 114-1, legally created pursuant to applicable law, may be rented under this section, not individual rooms or separate portions of apartment units or townhomes. A property owner of an apartment building, townhome or condominium must provide written notification to those long-term tenants (prospective or current tenants with leases of six (6) months and one (1) day or longer), providing affirmative notice that short-term rentals are expressly permitted throughout the building or at the premises
Due to the limited area and window to authorize short-term rentals, it is not expected that the proposed ordinance will create negative impacts to the surrounding community. The benchmarks already in place to authorize short-term rentals provide safeguards against any potential negative impacts that may come about as a result of the use.
PLANNING BOARD REVIEW
On December 20, 2016, the Planning Board transmitted the proposed Ordinance Amendment to the City Commission, with a favorable recommendation.
UPDATE
The subject ordinance was approved at First Reading on February 8, 2017, subject to the time period for short term rental applications being adjusted to comport with the adoption date of the ordinance. This change did not affect the Ordinance title and is included in the version for Second Reading.