Brevard Takes Step Towards Limiting New Short-Term Rentals

The city's Short-Term Rental Task Force recommended a new law that would prohibit additional vacation rental units in residential areas. It must still be passed by the City Council.

BREVARD — A city of Brevard committee put the city on a path to restricting new short-term rental units Thursday, recommending a draft law that would prohibit additional vacation listings in areas zoned for residential use.

The city’s Short-Term Rental Task Force was created two years ago amid concern that the rapid growth in the number of houses and apartments listed on platforms such as Airbnb was gobbling up housing stock and ultimately contributing to the city’s shortage of affordable housing.

At its meeting Thursday, members voted 5-1 to recommend the law, which was crafted to limit impositions on property owners, said City Attorney Mack McKeller.

“It’s the least-restrictive form to achieve the goals that we wanted to achieve,” he said.

The draft ordinance’s twin aims, its text states, are to maintain the “residential character of traditional neighborhoods . . . and to encourage an increase in housing stock available in the city.” 

The recommendation does nothing to restrict the operation of current short-term rentals as long as they are in continuous use, and it protects this right even if properties change hands. But it prevents the creation of new short-term units in all General Residential zones.

“This does a really important thing in my mind, in that new construction is covered,” said the group’s co-chair, City Council member Aaron Baker.

Which means, said the city’s assistant planning director, Aaron Bland, “A new house is going to be a house.” 

The law would, however, allow new short-term rentals — defined as being available for stays of less than 30 days — among more intensive uses allowed in the city’s mixed-use (CMX) and institutional campus (IC) zones.

Owners wishing to open up new units in these areas would be required to receive a zoning permit from the city, the recommendation says, and these rentals would be subject to existing regulations governing short-term rentals, including limits on lighting and signage.

McKeller said he had checked state statutes and consulted the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Government to ensure the law is legally  defensible. Similar ordinances have already been passed in several other North Carolina cities, including Asheville, which adopted a more restrictive measure, McKeller said.

Still open to question, though, is whether the law, which still requires review by the city Planning Board and approval by the City Council, will ultimately ease the strain on the housing market.

A study presented to the Task Force last year, and paid for with a grant from the Land of Sky Association of Realtors, found the soaring demand for short-term stays had done little to contribute to the county’s affordable housing crunch.

This study instead emphasized a massive economic impact of these units — impact derived not only from fees paid for stays, but spending at stores, restaurants and other businesses.

The total contribution of the vacation rental industry, the report said, came to about $75 million.

Baker, however, pointed to data in the report that seemed to show increased availability of vacation rentals did indeed correlate with higher housing costs, and he said that the pros and cons of restricting vacation rentals had been thoroughly considered by the Task Force.

Though none of the members of the group or the public spoke out against the proposal on Thursday, several previous meetings were much more contentious, Baker said.

“We’ve had a lot of public comment,” he said.

He also pointed out that the Task Force included several representatives from the business community, including Realtors Isaac Allen and Jeremy Owen, neither of whom attended Thursday’s meeting. The lone “no” vote came from Tripp Presnell, who owns several short-term rentals in the city.

“While I can’t support what you came up with,” he said to other members, “I do think it meets a lot of the community’s concerns.” 

Other Task Force members emphasized the time they had taken to come up with the draft law and the many ideas for controlling short-term rentals the group had considered.

“I think we’ve had commentary from all sides,” said City Council member Geraldine Dinkins, the other co-chair. “I think what we’ve come up with is fairly balanced and, as our attorney said, defensible.”

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