Kennett Square planning commission directs staff to rewrite short-term rental rules, favors ADU-only limits

The Borough of Kennett Square Planning Commission on May 19 directed staff and the solicitor to revise the short-term rental (STR) ordinance to reflect a package of policy choices, including treating STRs as accessory uses only, limiting one STR unit per parcel, and keeping a 20-unit borough-wide cap.

Commission discussion identified options and concerns: limiting STRs to ADUs or accessory apartments rather than whole-home rentals in residential districts; clarifying owner-occupancy requirements; establishing language to support enforcement and loss of registration; and how to handle existing STRs and ownership transfers, including LLCs. Commissioners discussed removing prior wording that would have limited eligible units to upper-floor dwellings only in commercial districts and aligning residential definitions across districts.

Public commenters raised concerns about preserving residential housing stock, enforcement difficulties, and the neighborhood impacts of absentee owners operating STRs; several speakers urged requiring owner presence during STR occupancy and restricting STRs to accessory units. The Commission instructed staff to work with the solicitor to revise definitions and owner-occupancy standards and to prepare the revised ordinance language for Borough Council consideration at its June meeting. The motion to direct staff was made by Joel Comanda, seconded by Carol Krawczyk, and approved unanimously.

The Commission did not adopt final ordinance language at the May meeting; the next formal step is presentation of revised draft language to Borough Council in June.