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City staff recommends ordinance changes after short-term rental software failures
Summary
Staff told council the city's third-party short-term rental platform is failing to process renewals; recommendations include a uniform Dec. 31 certificate expiration, a Sept. 1 annual renewal start, and removing the online posting requirement for certificate numbers.
William Robbins, deputy director of planning and development, briefed the council on technical and enforcement challenges with the city’s short-term rental program and proposed ordinance amendments to address them. “To date, our licensing department has issued 14 short term rental certificates,” Robbins said, and he reported four pending applications due to incomplete documentation and five recently expired certificates.
Robbins explained the city's third-party platform, Rentalscape, is experiencing technical limitations that prevent efficient renewal processing and stated staff recommends aligning certificate cycles with the city’s occupational tax by setting a uniform expiration date of Dec. 31 and establishing Sept. 1 as the annual renewal start. He also recommended removing the requirement that short-term rental certificate numbers be posted on online listings because the current software cannot reliably capture or verify that information.
Council members pressed staff on enforcement and public outreach options; Robbins emphasized evidence-based enforcement and asked neighbors to report suspected unlicensed rentals through the city’s GovPilot portal or code enforcement email. Council directed staff to prepare proposed ordinance amendments for future consideration.
