LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Short term rentals, listed on sites like Airbnb and VRBO, have exploded in popularity. In Louisville, hundreds of rentals are registered through the city.
Some in the community though say the rentals pose a risk to sense of community and home prices in residential communities.
Metro Councilman Jecorey Arthur (D-District 4) has proposed an ordinance to create a temporary moratorium on new short term rental registrations and conditional use permits applications.
Conditional use permits are required in residentially zoned areas if the rental's host doesn't live there.
Tuesday, Arthur said because of differences in zoning for areas like Phoenix Hill, rentals have spread rapidly.
"Butchertown and Phoenix Hill are not downtown, these are residential neighborhoods going back decades," he said. "We're talking about a neighborhood that is so impacted that a fifth, a fifth, of the single family homes are short term rentals. There is a block in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood with 25 single family homes and eight of them are short term rentals."
Initially, Arthur's ordinance only would have included Phoenix Hill, Butchertown and Clifton Heights. Tuesday, he proposed looping in several additional neighborhoods.
Other committee members spoke up, advocating to add neighborhoods in their areas. Councilmembers also discussed the idea of redefining the potentially impacted areas by council district.
"Leading up into the Highlands, you're having a high concentration of short-term rentals and so we still want a sense of community, I think there is balance in everything," Councilman Phillip Baker (D-District 6) said.
In a letter to councilmembers, several neighborhood association leaders said short term rentals, many of which aren't occupied by hosts, are disrupting a sense of community and driving up housing prices.
They also suggested the following changes to rental policy:
● Extend the 600-foot rule to 1,000-feet and use this distance for all STRs regardless of zoning or if the host lives on-site
● require all STR operators to apply for Conditional Use Permits
● require STR operators to comply with safety standards, noise and occupancy limits
● require the STR is the primary residence of the owner
● enforce penalties for those who violate regulations
● require platforms, such as Airbnb and Vrbo, collect and remit local taxes on behalf of their hosts
● enforcement accompanied by an up-to-date map of registrants
Councilman Ben Reno-Weber (D-District 8) said he isn't against rentals, noting they are an important part of tourism, but that changes are needed.
"It is clear among my constituents in our neighborhoods that we would like the ability to say 'please, no more' until we figure this out," he said.
"I think what we're seeing is two things, one is some real abuse by a set of players bringing in out of state corporate interests and money not being good hosts or neighbors," Reno-Weber added. "There are applications coming in fast and furious from people that we probably do not want to be grandfathered in."
Councilmembers emphasized the moratorium would only apply to new registrants. They said it would give city planners time to consider further changes to rental policies.
Tuesday, Emily Liu from Planning and Design, said her team has been working on ways to do just that. Planners reviewed some of the initial ideas for the committee.
They included requiring a driver's license when establishing proof of residency, changing the formula for maximum occupancy, adding new parameters to the conditional use permit process and increasing the application fee.
Liu said the ideas will need further input, but a draft could be ready to be released by as early as next week.
Tuesday, the Planning and Zoning Committee voted to table the moratorium ordinance until their next meeting. That is scheduled for May 23rd.
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