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Rexburg council keeps owner-occupancy rule for short-term rentals in low-density zones
Summary
After staff raised two recent inquiries about exceptions, the Rexburg City Council on Sept. 17 agreed to leave an owner-on-site short-term rental requirement in place for low-density residential zones and asked any proposed variance be brought as an ordinance change.
City planners brought two recent questions to the Rexburg City Council about the city's short-term rental rule that generally requires owners to live on-site in lower-density residential zones. Planning staff sought guidance on whether exceptions should be allowed where an owner lives in an adjacent home or a manager lives on-site in a twin home.
Alan, planning and zoning staff, told the council the matter concerned development code section 4 0.025 subsections b and c and described two inquiries in the prior five weeks asking for exceptions when an owner lives next door or a manager lives in a basement unit.
"The ordinance is clear," Council member Colin Erickson said during the discussion. Erickson and several colleagues said the owner-occupancy requirement is one of the few tools the city has left to limit short-term rental impacts in low-density neighborhoods after state law constraints. Council member Johnson described past neighborhood problems where short-term rental guests created noise and safety concerns.
Council members said if the council wanted to allow exceptions they should amend the ordinance formally rather than direct staff to make case-by-case exceptions. "If you're seeking any variance, any change in the law, bring it to the city council," Alan said, and council consensus favored leaving the ordinance as written.
No motion to change the ordinance was taken at the meeting; the mayor was not present but had told staff he believed the rule was appropriate as currently written.
