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City staff recommends licensing approach for short‑term rentals; commission asks for simple application and owner limits
Summary
Community development staff presented three options for regulating short‑term rentals — special use permit, permit by right, or city licensing — and recommended licensing. Commissioners favored a simple licensing system, primary‑residence limits and further work on hosted vs. unhosted rules and ownership limits.
City of Dickinson community development staff briefed the Planning and Zoning Commission Oct. 8 on short‑term rentals and recommended that the city regulate them through a municipal licensing program rather than permitting them by right or by special use permit.
Natalie Burczyk, city planner, said staff had received four phone inquiries and one resident (Danielle Yawn) spoke at an earlier meeting, prompting staff to research how other cities regulate short‑term rentals. Burczyk presented three scenarios: allowing short‑term rentals in residential districts by special use permit (most control but administratively heavy), permitting them by right (least control), or licensing them with administrative approval and the ability to revoke licenses (staff recommendation). Burczyk described hosted (owner present) and unhosted (owner absent) models and noted that North Dakota does not license short‑term rentals at the state level in the same way it licenses lodging; she added that bed‑and‑breakfasts and lodging are treated separately under state rules.
Commission discussion focused on practical enforcement and neighborhood impacts. Commissioners and staff favored a simple licensing process that would give the city a registry of short‑term rentals and a local enforcement mechanism. Suggestions included: require the short‑term rental to be the property owner’s primary residence (discouraging investment‑style conversions), prohibit ADUs from short‑term rental use (the municipal code currently requires ADUs to be rented for more than 28 days), require a local contact or 24‑hour responsible party, collect house rules and a modest application fee, and consider a cap on the number of licenses a single owner or ownership group can hold (suggested cap mentioned: two). Steve Josephson, city‑county planner, noted some municipalities maintain annual licenses, 24‑hour contacts and software tools to track units.
Burczyk said licensing would take staff time to design but would allow administrative approvals and revocation authority if a unit caused repeated nuisance problems. Commissioners directed staff to draft a simple licensing approach and to return with recommended language addressing hosted vs. unhosted rentals, primary‑residence limits, owner limits, and enforcement mechanisms.
