Michigan City workshop reviews short-term rental enforcement options, legal limits from state law

Michigan City officials and residents spent a June 10 workshop reviewing how to enforce the city's 2021 short-term rental rules, debate a proposed hotline and better police-code coordination, and press for inspections of several repeatedly troublesome properties.

Councilmember Constance Olson opened the meeting by framing it as a policy workshop: "we're gonna talk about short term rentals exploring the solutions," she said, saying the session would build on the 2021 ordinance the council adopted.

The meeting narrowed quickly onto two related problems: how to use tools the city already has (registration, fines, and code enforcement) and how far the city can go without running afoul of Indiana state law. Ramel Ranks, an attorney with Harris Law Firm representing the council, told the room, "Indiana law provides the guide rails for what a city and town can and cannot do," and listed several restrictions the city cannot impose, including minimum-night stays, residency requirements for owners and neighborhood-specific limits that would treat short-term rentals differently than other residential property.

That legal limit shaped the staff and resident proposals that followed. Staff and police described operational steps the city can take without new legislation: create a short-term-rental hotline and registry that…