LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Short-term rentals, like Airbnbs, are booming in the Metro with more than a thousand listed as of writing this.
Recently, the rental company ranked Louisville number one for trending summer destinations domestically, and number six internationally. Though the city is leading, Metro Council members say the short-term rentals come at a great cost.
"These are people with multiple homes and multiple properties. And we live in a city where some people don't have a home at all," Councilman Jecorey Arthur said.
That's a huge of the reason why Arthur wants to regulate short-term properties.
He originally created an ordinance putting a halt on new properties in three neighborhoods: Butchertown, Clifton Heights and Phoenix Hill. But on Tuesday, Louisville's Planning and Zoning committee extended the moratorium to the entire city after the rentals became a nuisance in other areas.
"We had an issue of people throwing parties, and people were getting around the permit process, and people weren't respecting their neighbors in the neighborhood they were in," Arthur said.
But that change is why Councilmember Khalil Batshon thought it was a step too far.
"I think we need to take a different approach rather than a moratorium and just maybe capping the short-term rental applications for this year until we can work the language, maybe look at some other cities that have done this, and their language, and come to a compromise there," he said.
Arthur says the moratorium would last for six months, or until the council can approve new regulations. Those limits would strengthen the rule requiring rentals to be 600 ft. apart from each other, mandated owners to live at a property for at least six months before registering, and raise the annual registration fee from $25 to $100.
Arthur says the ordinance will only impact upcoming short-term rentals that aren't already going through the application process. He adds it's a small price to pay to ensure communities flourish.
"And community means people that you live next to, that you know by name. That you communicate with, that you build with, and we can't have neighborhoods if we don't have neighbors, " he said
Arthur says new rules are expected to go before the Planning Commission in June or July and then the full Metro Council. In the meantime, the council will host several meetings to gain public input.
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