Portsmouth council reviews draft short‑term rental ordinance that would require owner‑occupancy and new registration rules

Portsmouth City Council on Monday reviewed a draft short‑term rental ordinance that would create an annual registration and enforcement system for short‑term rentals in the city, require owner‑occupancy in most cases and set new operational standards for safety, occupancy and advertising.

Dr. Rachel Russell, who led the project, told council members the draft follows the Code of Virginia definition of short‑term rentals — stays of less than 30 days — and that Portsmouth currently has no local regulatory framework. "The draft ordinance for the city of Portsmouth requires owner occupancy," Russell said, explaining the proposal would treat owner‑occupied units differently from non‑owner‑occupied units and would permit owner‑occupancy where the owner resides on the property at least 185 days per year.

The draft would also require annual registration and a zoning permit, a business license, and proof of tax compliance before a unit could be advertised. Michelle Bowman, a planning‑department project coordinator, summarized prescriptive rules under consideration: a cap of one short‑term rental within 500 feet (or a maximum of 10% per block), verification of building and fire‑code compliance, a required guest log, and a local contact who must be within 50 miles and available 24/7 with a one‑hour response time. "We're going to require a guest log," Bowman said; she also proposed a minimum liability insurance amount of $300,000 and occupancy limits set at two people per bedroom with an overall cap of eight guests.

Staff said the registration number will be required in all listings to help enforcement and that the city would use a three‑strike escalation model: education and warnings, followed by administrative penalties and potential permit revocation for repeated violations. Dr. Russell said the ordinance will include provisions for inspections, revocation procedures and appeals to the Board of Zoning Appeals for decisions by the zoning administrator.

Council members raised numerous operational and policy concerns during a lengthy Q&A. Several members said they wanted legal analysis on whether the city can impose stricter rules than the state code, and whether the owner‑occupancy requirement could be modified to allow investors or non‑resident operators with robust local contacts and stricter zoning and parking conditions. "I feel like there's other things that we could do to get the same type of results without requiring it to be a primary residency," one councilor said, arguing density and parking rules might achieve the same goals while allowing more units to support tourism.

Several council members questioned the timing and workload of bringing several hundred existing listings into compliance if the city requires all operators to register by a set effective date. Staff acknowledged the registration workload could be substantial and said the city would model case‑loads and processing timelines; staff also noted that first‑come, first‑serve processing could disadvantage traveling nurses or operators who cannot file in person.

Members pressed staff on enforcement logistics: which department will enforce guest‑log and occupancy rules, how multiple departments will track violations, whether the city’s planned permitting software can aggregate incidents under a unique registration number, and whether the fire marshal should set maximum occupancies instead of a blanket "two per bedroom" rule. "That two per bedroom ... borders on absurd," one member said, urging the city to consider professional occupancy limits set by the fire marshal.

Staff outlined the next steps: the draft will be presented to the Portsmouth Planning Commission on July 7, with a request to authorize a public hearing in August; if the planning commission forwards the ordinance, council could consider adoption in September with a delayed effective date of Jan. 1, 2027, to give staff time to implement registration systems and conduct public education. Dr. Russell said staff will return with revised language after the remaining stakeholder meetings and legal review.

The presentation prompted requests for additional clarifications staff committed to provide, including: (1) a legal memo on how state law limits or permits local density and owner‑occupancy requirements; (2) a plan for processing and staffing registrations and appeals ahead of the proposed effective date; (3) operational details showing which departments will track and enforce different violations; and (4) specifications for the city’s permitting software to ensure cross‑department reporting by registration number.

The council did not take any formal action on the ordinance at the work session. Staff said they will incorporate council feedback and return with revisions and additional information at a subsequent work session.