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MINUTES OF THE Council Exhibit C ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING 17-3984 Monday, October 9, 2017 7:00 o'clock p.m. 14. AUTHORIZATION TO REVIEW POSSIBLE ORDINANCE TO PROHIBIT SHORT- TERM RENTALS Barnhart reviewed his Staff report dated October 9, 2017, regarding a possible City Code amendment to regulate short-term rentals. Barnhart stated the issue is more and more properties are renting or leasing their property to vacation renters. Many times those rentals have impacted the neighbors. Staff does not support an ordinance amendment since adding a regulation either outright prohibiting and/or severely restricting the short-term rental of a property owner's home impacts their property rights and punishes the property owners and renters that are respectful of the rules and would only add redundant regulation to city ordinances. Currently the City has rules and ordinances that regulate various nuisances and crimes. Crosby asked what some of the neighboring cities are doing. Barnhart indicated there is a mix, with a number of cities regulating rental housing, with short-term rentals being a component of that, and some cities just regulating short-term rentals. The City of Shoreview prohibits short-term rentals. Dankey asked if any of the cities have said that something in particular has worked for them. Barnhart stated the question comes down to how many resources Orono can put on enforcing an ordinance. Barnhart stated the City of Plymouth regulates short-term rentals but they have much more resources to conduct frequent inspections and then other cities do an inspection once every three to five years. In 2015, Staff proposed requiring a license that was intended to identify an onsite manager that could be contacted with any complaints. Walsh noted originally when the Council discussed this, one issue was having someone that could be contacted in the event of an issue. Walsh stated a new issue is how the City protects itself against sex offenders coming in on a short-term rental as well as the number of people in the rental house. Barnhart stated if the City requires a license, someone would need to be in charge of the rental, but that he is not sure how the City could regulate the number of people in the house. Barnhart stated from a building code perspective, there is a capacity question on a home, but that he does not know how the City would be able to track that outside of responding to complaints. Currently the City has regulations addressing parking, traffic, and noise. Dankey asked if it is possible to restrict the number of people through the licensing process. Barnhart stated there is probably a way to limit it and that Staff can take a look at that. Seals stated she used to own rental properties in Duluth and that they would require a license. Seals stated if she had so many complaints against the property, she was at risk of losing her license and that she made sure she had rules in place. Seals stated in her view this conversation is about people being good citizens. Mattick stated with the advent of AirBnb, short-term rentals have become more popular and that the question is whether the Council is looking to distinguish short-term rentals from other rentals. Mattick Page 1 of 7