As reported in
last week's Daily News Record, the City of Harrisonburg is continuing to discuss if they should try to better regulate short term rentals and if so, how.
The lay of the land in Harrisonburg currently seems to be...
- When property owners rent their homes on a short term basis (often nightly or weekly, through sites such as airbnb.com) they aren't currently subject to the taxes and regulations that hotels and other short term stay operations must abide by.
- Technically, renting all or part of your home out on a short term basis is not currently allowed unless your property is zoned B-1.
- Some property owners in the City are renting their homes out on sites such as airbnb.com despite the fact that it s not a current legal permitted use of their property.
- In September 2018, City staff proposed changes to City Council that would have required property owners to have a special use permit to rent their property on a short term basis. City Council tabled this proposal as they did not think it was likely that property owners would pay the fees and wait for several months to obtain a special use permit.
- A new proposal from City staff would allow property owners to rent out part of their home on a short term basis if they (the property owner) are using the property as their primary residence and they (the property owner) are present during the short term rental period. In this new proposal, if the property was not a primary residence for the owner then they would have to apply for a special use permit to use it as a short term rental.
- Staff believes that short-term rentals should only be permitted during times when demand for short term housing is high, such as JMU graduation, Homecoming, football weekends, etc.
- The new draft proposed changes to the zoning ordinance won't get to the Planning Commission until January and to City Council until February, so we're a few months out from any possible decisions.
- To some property owners it seems reasonable that they (or their neighbors) should be able to rent out part or all of their home on a short-term basis, especially if doing so has no detrimental impact on surrounding properties and property owners.
- To some property owners it seems very unreasonable to allow owners of residentially zoned properties to rent out their homes on a short-term basis as it effectively allows such properties to become hotels, in the middle of residential neighborhoods.
And so, the discussions continue -- and are likely to continue to continue -- as there does not seem to be a neat and tidy, balanced solution to this issue. Maybe there will be new regulations in 2019 that will allow or prohibit or limit or regulate short term rentals. Or, maybe, the zoning ordinance will remain the same, it will be illegal to rent all or part of your home out on a site like airbnb.com and some property owners will do it anyhow.
Recent Articles:
