Planning staff outlines short‑term rental enforcement, UDC next steps and staffing changes

Planning staff told the commission the short‑term rental regulatory amendment will not go to City Council on the previously anticipated date and instead will be held until a council work session can review the proposal; staff also said the city is beginning enforcement action against operators who did not respond to licensing notices.

Mr. Zinner of the Planning Division said two rounds of notices had been sent to roughly 293 operators and that the city started full compliance on June 1. He said staff will begin prosecution for nonresponsive operators and that a short‑term rental vendor contract is expected to be introduced to City Council in October to assist with compliance work. Staff emphasized they will continue processing short‑term rental applications through the commission until any regulatory amendment is adopted.

Zinner also briefed the commission on broader workload and staffing: the senior planner resigned; the department is in transition and will welcome a returning director, Mr. Smith, at the end of the month. He said staff intend to continue technical review of the Unified Development Code (UDC) — noting Article 5 and Appendix A as near‑term items — but acknowledged limited staff capacity affects the pace of code revisions. Planning staff invited continued engagement from the development community and stakeholders as the UDC technical phase proceeds.

During public comment, local civil engineer Jay Gephardt urged earlier and more interactive participation with the development community on UDC changes and suggested the city consider bringing consultants into work sessions to provide design‑level feedback. Commissioners and staff discussed the tradeoffs between more front‑end engagement and the staff time required to process multiple concurrent amendments.