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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />Monday, June 22, 2015 <br />7:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />Page 12 of 19 <br /> <br />10. #15-3759 REQUEST FOR ORDINANCE RELATED TO VACATION RENTALS <br /> <br />Barnhart stated the practice of renting a person’s home for vacationers is becoming more prevalent, and <br />that over the past several weeks, Council Member Walsh has received complaints regarding the use of <br />single-family homes for vacation rentals. City Code does not currently regulate the use of a home for <br />short or long-term rentals. <br /> <br />In addition, Staff has learned that some property owners purchase a home for the primary purpose to rent <br />it on both a short and long-term basis as income property. A cursory review of these sites found 6-15 <br />properties on each site advertising Orono, including one site on Big Island and another single room. <br /> <br />The concerns raised are related to noise, number of guests, neighborhood traffic, parking, and guest <br />safety. Barnhart stated enforcement will be a challenge, similar to the provision that prohibits the rental <br />of boat slips. Staff must periodically review advertisements and craigslist to find sites, which could use a <br />considerable amount of Staff time. <br /> <br />Barnhart stated Staff would like some feedback on how they would like to proceed on this issue. <br /> <br />Printup asked if this would cover vacation rentals as opposed to someone just renting a house. <br /> <br />Walsh stated it would be short-term rentals, such as daily or weekly. <br /> <br />Barnhart stated the City has heard more recently about weekly rentals and that currently the City does not <br />really regulate rentals. Barnhart stated it is also hard to regulate ownership of a house. Barnhart stated <br />the more recent issues have dealt with situations where people come for a vacation and the neighbors <br />experience problems. <br /> <br />McMillan noted the City does not regulate year-long rentals currently. McMillan stated in her <br />neighborhood they have two rentals homes and that they have experienced issues periodically but those <br />related to homes that were rented for a year-plus. McMillan stated she is sure the short-term rentals are <br />happening more on the lake. <br /> <br />Walsh stated some cities regulate hotels, which are short-term rentals, but that the hotel has to be eight <br />stories or higher. Walsh noted one of the other cities just took their hotel regulations and amended them <br />to cover short-term rentals. Walsh stated there would need to be appropriate zoning in order to have a <br />hotel, but that amending those existing regulations made it easy to deal with the weekly or daily rentals. <br />Walsh stated this is more of a summertime issue, but that he is aware of a person who has someone <br />renting their house out every week two doors down from him. Walsh indicated that person has had to <br />deal with the traffic, noise, and lack of regular maintenance on the home. <br /> <br />Printup stated he would be interested in hearing more about this. <br /> <br />Walsh stated with the Internet, there are a number of sites where people can advertise their homes for <br />rent. <br /> <br />McMillan asked if there is anything under the City’s regulations relating to noise or nuisance that could <br />help to address some of the issues. McMillan asked if the complaints are related to noise or destruction of <br />property.