Council approves short-term rental at 801 Colonial Avenue after neighbor raises parking concerns

Norfolk City Council approved a conditional use permit to authorize a short-term rental unit at 801 Colonial Avenue after neighbors raised concerns about parking and enforcement.

The permit was approved after the council dispensed with the charter requirement for reading the ordinance twice and voted in favor. Councilmembers present recorded aye votes during the final roll call on the item.

Neighbor Walter Ott said the property’s conversion from single-family use and lack of off-street parking would depend on city streets for guest parking. “There are a large number of short term rentals that are not being monitored and there's a lack of policing of those short term rentals,” Ott told the council, asking “Specifically who actually enforces the length of the stays, the number of the guests and the number of vehicles.” He gave block-by-block counts he said showed high curb occupancy in the 700–900 blocks of Colonial Avenue and nearby streets and urged the applicant to secure off-street spaces, suggesting nearby houses of worship or community parking.

The applicant, Jason Edelman, who said he lives at 801 Colonial Avenue, told the council his rental often has guests who arrive by Uber and that the hosts personally greet guests to ensure neighborhood compliance. “Many of our guests arrive by Uber,” Edelman said. “We instruct specifically our customers to park on Raleigh, which has the greatest availability of parking out of consideration for our neighbors.” He also said the rental previously had an agreement with Ghent United Methodist Church to use additional parking spaces.

The council’s action authorizes the short-term rental under the conditional use permit as described in the ordinance. The record shows the council voted to dispense with the second reading and adopt the ordinance with the effective date; roll-call aye votes were recorded on the record.

The council did not, during the item, adopt new enforcement language or a binding off-street parking agreement for the property; those issues were raised in public comment and addressed informally by the applicant.

Neighbors and the applicant spoke for several minutes during the public-comment portion of the item; no formal amendment to the permit was adopted at the meeting.

The council’s approval means the permit is granted as written on the agenda; any further enforcement, registration, or parking agreements would proceed under existing city code and enforcement processes.