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Staff outlines draft short‑term rental zoning amendment; commissioners weigh R‑zone restrictions
Summary
Planning staff presented a draft zoning amendment to regulate short‑term rentals (Airbnb/VRBO) that would limit where short‑term rentals are allowed, require permits and separation distances, and place caps on multifamily properties. Commissioners discussed a 1,000‑foot separation in R3 and a roughly 30‑unit estimate of existing listings.
Planning staff briefed the Planning Commission Tuesday on a draft zoning amendment that would create a permit regime and land‑use restrictions for short‑term rental platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO.
Jerome, a planning staff member, said staff identified roughly 30 short‑term rental listings within the city from cursory online searches and has drafted an ordinance focused on commercial and higher‑density residential districts rather than single‑family residential neighborhoods.
The proposed rules and rationale According to staff, the draft ordinance would: make short‑term rentals a permitted use in selected commercial and higher‑density residential districts (C2, CR, CN, CH and R3 under review), require a short‑term rental zoning permit and accompanying supplemental regulations, and establish separation distances to limit clustering.
Jerome said staff initially considered allowing short‑term rentals across all zoning districts but narrowed the draft to focus on commercial and higher‑density residential districts after internal discussion. “There’s roughly, by counts that we have done… roughly about at least 30 of these within the city now,” Jerome said of current listings.
Separation distances and caps Staff reported the draft would include a 1,000‑foot separation distance between permitted short‑term rentals in the R3 district and a 500‑foot separation distance in commercial districts (C2, CR, CN, CH). For multifamily dwellings, short‑term units would be capped at 20% of units.
Enforcement and next steps Jerome said short‑term rentals would be required to obtain a supplemental zoning permit with regulatory conditions (noise, trash, nuisance provisions to be enforced under normal zoning violation procedures) and that permits could be revoked for repeated violations. He said the staff intends to circulate the draft to the Planning Commission and the Berks County Planning Commission for review and to bring the item back at the next regular meeting for further discussion.
Commission discussion Commissioners said they would review the draft and noted the tension between visitors locating in single‑family neighborhoods versus the need to treat short‑term rentals as commercial uses, citing case law. Speaking to that point, a commissioner identified as Munjan noted that many court decisions treat short‑term rentals as commercial use rather than residential, which shaped staff’s recommendation to limit residential district coverage. Commissioners signaled willingness to discuss details—especially the 1,000‑foot spacing in R3—once the full draft is circulated.
Ending Staff said it would circulate the draft ordinance and supplemental permit language before the commission’s next meeting for further deliberation.
