The Town of Normal will take the next six months to look at how other communities regulate short-term rental properties listed through Airbnb, Vrbo, and other online clearing houses.
Council members on Monday approved a moratorium on new short-term rental units starting Dec. 1 to allow staff to look for solutions to encode in a new ordinance. There have been noise and traffic complaints associated with some short-term rental properties.
Some communities that have significant tourism have a serious problem with properties being bought up and turned into Airbnb rentals and it affects the local housing stock. In Normal, Koos said most of the friction comes from rentals located in single-family neighborhoods.
“There is an expectation that people have when they buy a house in a single-family neighborhood that it’s going to be – it might be a rental but – that it’s going to be owner-occupied for the most part and Airbnbs often don’t respect that or conform to that,” said Koos.
Town regulations limit a single-family home from having more than two people living there who are not the owners. Koos said he has seen listings for three-bedroom houses that list occupancy of up to 9-10 short term renters.
“Then you’ve got 9-10 vehicles coming into the neighborhood. Where are they parking? You often have a party environment, which if you are having guests in your house every week, can be a problem for the neighborhood,” said Koos.
He said college game day rentals can offer that kind of challenge during some seasons. He acknowledged that could be just a temporary artifact but listing companies won’t share that data. He said there are enough anecdotal complaints about the issue to merit the moratorium and town study of the issue.
Why not just enforce existing parking and noise ordinances and let business happen?
"It's a fair question to ask that. But with the manpower and staffing that would be required to do that, we'd almost have to hire extra people just to monitor that," said Koos.
Property management companies and individual landlords do own houses in single-family areas that they rent. Koos distinguished those from the short-term rental business.
“When you have a long-term rental, those people tend to become part of the neighborhood. They’re responsible in their behaviors in the neighborhood … and with zoning the way it is, it’s very intentional where these are allowed to be occupied,” said Koos.
In many communities, though, when rental and single-family zoning regulation questions arise, arguments are often advanced by those who want to prevent the spread of renting — that renters do not, in fact, have the same buy-in to neighborhoods that homeowners have and that renters are more prone to pose problems for the rest of the neighborhood than owners.
“What you are asking me is to paint everything with a little individualistic paintbrush and say this property is OK, that property is not OK, that one the verdict is out on,” Koos responded. “What we’re looking at is the response from residents of the community who are concerned.”
Some suggest a requirement that such units be owner-occupied. They contend that will encourage oversight and limit problems. Koos said there are no easy answers.
"There are people that live in more desirable locations in terms of tourism that actually do live in their house and during peak periods of opportunity they leave their houses for a week or a month, and can make significant money doing that," said Koos. “There are always going to be loopholes. It’s really hard to say this person is OK but this person is not OK.”
In doing research before the council approved the moratorium, town staff also found about 40 listings for people that don't have business licenses and aren't paying hotel-motel taxes. Koos said he was modestly surprised at that number. Those will either have to register by Dec. 1 or face fines if they take in new guests after the moratorium period begins. There are also more than 20 short-term rental sites that do have permits.
Koos said he thinks Airbnbs have a place in the community, but the town does need to resolve conflicts from their presence in single-family neighborhoods.
“A lot of what we’re doing in the next six months is seeing what experiences other communities who have taken action have had, positive or negative, as a result of that,” said Koos. “We’re also going to hear from owners of these properties as well as residents in the neighborhoods.”
