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Perry council approves string of short‑term rental exemptions and Habitat size waiver
Summary
Perry City Council unanimously approved several special‑exception requests Oct. 7 allowing multiple short‑term rentals and granted Habitat for Humanity a waiver to reduce a minimum house size, while staff noted broader planning work on buffers near schools and saturation concerns.
PERRY — The Perry City Council approved multiple special‑exception requests on Oct. 7 that cleared the way for short‑term rentals at several single‑family properties and allowed H•ston County Habitat for Humanity to build a smaller house than the city’s minimum square‑foot requirement.
Miss Carson, the city’s planning presenter, told the council the Planning Commission recommended approval of the short‑term residential exceptions for properties at 408 Pattingham Court, 603 Woodland Drive, 1614 Marshall Circle and 314 Greatton Way. Each property passed required health and safety inspections, Carson said, and the applications listed occupant and parking limits intended to reduce neighborhood impacts.
The council also approved a request from H•ston County Habitat for Humanity to reduce the minimum house size for 1113 Juel Drive. Miss Carson said the neighborhood’s existing character includes many homes under the city’s 1,500‑square‑foot minimum and that requiring a larger footprint could make new construction out of scale with surrounding houses.
Why it matters: Council members and planning staff described the approvals as part of a larger balance between homeowner rights, neighborhood character and community revitalization. In several public‑hearing items, staff said there was no direct resident opposition specific to the addresses under review, though they flagged more general concerns about short‑term rental saturation and proximity to schools.
Council discussion and follow‑up: During discussion of the Marshall Circle application, Miss Carson said planning commissioners and staff are reviewing resident feedback about whether to impose a school proximity buffer for short‑term rentals. "We are researching what some other communities have done to evaluate if that's something we'd wish to pursue," she said. Council members emphasized the matter will return to planning staff for further study of buffers and licensing limits.
What the council did: Each special‑exception application was approved at the regular meeting portion of Oct. 7; the record shows unanimous approval for the individual short‑term rental items and the Habitat size waiver. The Planning Commission’s recommendations and inspection results were cited repeatedly as the basis for moving forward.
Next steps: Planning staff will continue to map existing short‑term rentals, study the 1,000‑foot buffer and consider policy options on proximity to schools and saturation limits. Any new code or buffer proposal would return to the council through the Planning Commission.
