Tybee Island extends holiday vacation rental moratorium, stalls cap on rentals
Tybee Island Metropolis Council postponed a conclusion to cap the quantity of shorter-time period getaway rentals permitted in household parts in Wednesday’s council meeting, opting in its place to undertake an most occupancy price and lengthen a 90-day moratorium on permits to April 30, 2022.
Addressing the rentals, which are labeled as properties rented to visitors for 30 times or fewer, has been a council priority throughout 2021. Proposed ordinances concerning the cap and occupancy level had been place ahead of council earlier this thirty day period, environment up Wednesday’s rulings.
Comprehensive Tale:Tybee council set to vote on considerable shorter-expression family vacation rental rules
The highest occupancy price restrictions quick-phrase trip rentals, or STVRs, to two adults for each bed room additionally an added two older people for the full dwelling.
The moratorium, meanwhile, bars qualities from registering as a vacation rental if they aren’t currently working as 1. It was initially set to expire in December.
The moratorium’s extension gives council more time to go on experiments and carry out hearings on how to regulate STVRs on the island, an problem that has constantly divided people. Vacation rentals are the principal lodging solution for visitors on the island, in accordance to hotel-motel tax data, and quite a few longtime or permanent people see ongoing proliferation of STVRs as a risk to their feeling of neighborhood.
Many others island citizens and home owners view the proposed regulations and limits as a danger to their property legal rights and source of alternative profits.
Throughout the moratorium, which started out in September, the council so significantly has carried out surveys, held city halls and implemented the occupancy charge and a cost construction based on that charge. Each yr a assets renews its STVR allow, a charge dependent on the listed occupancy must be paid.
The moratorium has also permitted city officials to acquire details on the selection of trip rentals in household spots and suggest boundaries. Initially, the cap was set to 760, which is considered to be the current number of STVR-permitted houses. That’s about 38% of overall houses in residential neighborhoods.
On the other hand, the methodology for coming up with that number has been contested by STVR administration businesses. Tybee Island Association of Rental Agents (TIARA) claim there are nearer to 811 present STVRs in residential zones.
Other issues remain as nicely. In the event a cap is recognized, it’s unclear who will get priority in applying for an STVR allow when the quantity of rentals dips beneath the restrict. Council has also bounced close to ideas about a achievable compassion clause, which will give specified house owners facing financial hardship precedence in making use of for STVR permits.
According to city manager Shawn Gillen, a new draft of the ordinance may perhaps not be ready until finally soon after the holidays. Tybee Island council meetings are normally held on the next and fourth Thursdays of each individual month.
Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Achieve her at [email protected] or on Twitter @nancyguann.