Planning Commission to study Willoughby vacation-rental limits after months of complaints

A city planning staff member told the Norfolk Planning Commission that the Willoughby Civic League’s request to limit new vacation rentals merits deeper study after a May public meeting drew more than 80 attendees and 35 speakers.

Staff said Willoughby currently has 56 vacation rentals, 22 of which were approved through conditional use permits, and that a January/May data snapshot shows concentration in particular blocks. That compares with a 1%-per-zone cap and 300-foot buffer used in nearby Hampton; applying Hampton’s 1% cap to Willoughby would limit vacation rentals to 21, staff said. "We want to hone in on a couple of [community] comments and work our way forward," the staff member said.

Staff also reported enforcement and complaint data: 72 short-term-rental-related complaints recorded in the system and 77 zoning violations issued since 2024 citywide; in Willoughby, six violations involved permitted operators and 71 involved unapproved operators, staff said. A contracted vendor-scraping service (used to find unpermitted listings) returned 175 platform listings in the Willoughby area that the contractor identified as 24 distinct properties after verification, staff said.

Commissioners pressed staff for follow-up analysis rather than immediate action. Commissioner Bateman and others said they were not ready to impose a hard citywide moratorium or an outright cap without more information on enforcement outcomes and how a cap would affect unregistered operators. Several commissioners favored additional study of a 300-foot versus 500-foot buffer, and asked staff to examine how Hampton handled enforcement in capped zones and whether unregistered listings rose after Hampton’s cap took effect.

Staff recommended continuing fact-gathering and scheduled a public hearing so the commission can hear more testimony before making a decision. Elizabeth, a staff member, urged the commission to keep the public hearing open to collect community comments if the commission delays final action.

Why it matters: Willoughby’s mix of multifamily housing and older housing stock creates higher concentrations of rentals by parcel than the citywide average, and the commission’s decision could set a policy precedent for other neighborhoods. Commissioners asked staff to return with maps showing both 300-foot and 500-foot buffers, enforcement results from Hampton, data on applications that start but never complete, and a clearer breakdown of complaint types before taking a formal vote.

Next steps: Staff will post the presentation and public comments on the city’s short-term-rental website, pursue the buffer and enforcement comparisons requested, and proceed to a public hearing so the Planning Commission can hear additional testimony before deciding whether to initiate a zoning text amendment.