Virginia Beach task force recommends 20 changes to short‑term rental rules, council asks staff to draft ordinances

A citizen task force appointed by Virginia Beach City Council presented 20 recommendations Tuesday aimed at tightening enforcement and simplifying registration for short‑term rentals (STRs), and the council instructed staff to draft ordinance changes and schedule public hearings.

The Short‑Term Rental Enforcement Task Force, chaired by Andy Cohen, recommended changes ranging from revised on‑site sign requirements and streamlined renewal paperwork to changes in safety inspections, fees, parking rules for grandfathered units and stronger tools to remove repeat unpermitted listings from online platforms.

"We started the process off by using some human centered design principles so that task force members had to empathize with various people involved in the process," said Laura Gomez Nichols, the neutral facilitator hired by the city. "We outlined key issues and areas of improvement to find a shared vision and developed, refined, and finally voted on recommendations."

Why it matters: Planning staff told the task force that longstanding backlogs of unpermitted listings and limits on enforcement capacity have reduced the city’s ability to act promptly on repeat violations. The task force said the changes would free staff time for proactive enforcement and make compliance…