Committee backs 500-foot radius, 4% cap and 100-foot separation for short‑term rentals

The Image Review Committee of the City of Bayville on Sept. 23 moved toward formal limits on short‑term rentals (STRs), adopting a working consensus to measure concentration using a 500‑foot radius, cap allowable STRs at 4 percent within that circle and bar new STRs located within 100 feet of another licensed STR.

Jonathan, a city staff member presenting the proposal, said the recommended 500‑foot radius ‘‘more accurately reflect[s] what is the area that could potentially impact a single piece of property’’ and that ‘‘choosing the 4% number within that 500 foot radius appears to most honor the permits on the ground today.’’ He told the committee the analysis reviewed addresses/units within 250‑ and 500‑foot circles and found 500 feet reduced variability compared with the tighter 250‑foot test.

The committee discussed several ways to prevent tight clusters of STRs on a single block even if a 4% cap would allow them. One council member described resident concerns that ‘‘if there’s six houses on my block, I don’t want two of them to be short‑term rentals on the same block,’’ prompting members to combine the radius/percent test with a proximity prohibition to spread rentals more evenly.

Staff recommended measuring separation by property line rather than front‑door distance, saying property‑line measurement is more administrable. Members used map overlays and specific neighborhood examples during the meeting to test how a 100‑foot rule and the 4% cap would change eligibility; staff confirmed the rule would not revoke existing licenses but would bar new licenses in newly disqualified locations.

Committee members also asked staff to clarify how multifamily buildings and condominiums would be counted. Jonathan said one conservative approach is to treat a multifamily building as a single residential address for the percentage calculation, because counting every unit in a large building could ‘‘grossly inflate’’ the number of eligible STRs in adjacent single‑family neighborhoods. The committee signaled a preference to apply the new 500‑foot/4%/100‑foot rules primarily to detached single‑family and similar small structures while preserving distinct counting rules for multifamily and condominium regimes.

Legal and administrative issues were discussed. A city attorney on staff noted ongoing litigation over STR regulations and cautioned that changing standards could affect pending appeals; members debated whether to keep planning commission discretion in the ordinance or replace some subjective review with the new objective tests for predictability.

The committee asked staff to draft ordinance language that: specifies whether the cap is calculated using addresses or dwelling units, defines how condos and multifamily buildings count toward the cap, codifies property‑line measurement for separation, and preserves existing license renewals. The committee also instructed staff to return with the drafted language in time to address the ordinance’s sunset provision (committee members noted the sunset date as Nov. 30).

The meeting ended with a motion to adjourn.