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Council asks administration to draft ordinance to bar new non‑owner‑occupied short‑term rentals
Summary
After an extended debate over housing, parking and property‑rights concerns, the council passed a resolution directing the administration and solicitor to prepare ordinance amendments to prohibit new non‑owner‑occupied short‑term rentals across municipal zones and to present a plan at the next meeting.
Councilor David Carlin reintroduced a resolution asking administration and the city solicitor to prepare ordinance and policy changes that would bar new short‑term rentals that are not owner‑occupied across the city's zones, including business and limited business districts. The measure mirrors a similar action last year and followed lengthy council debate about housing displacement, parking impacts and market effects.
Councilors voiced differing views: supporters cited the housing study that found conversion of multi‑unit apartments into short‑term rentals is reducing available long‑term housing and urged the council to "stop the bleeding;" opponents warned that restricting commercial zone uses could raise property‑value and legal issues and might effectively grandfather existing commercial short‑term rentals, risking a market distortion.
The solicitor explained the resolution requests a plan and is a lawful instruction to prepare ordinances and administrative policies; members debated grandfathering, enforcement and alternative approaches such as taxation/classification changes. After back‑and‑forth the council approved the resolution to have staff return with proposed ordinance language and administrative steps. Related items on guest parking passes and variances for transient guest facilities were indefinitely postponed as duplicative or contingent on the plan.
