At the request of Council, staff researched and prepared an ordinance addressing the issues associated with short term rentals (STR) such as neighborhood livability and depletion of housing stock. A work session was held with Planning Commission on September 22, 2021 and with Council on October 20, 2021. The first reading of the ordinance took place on November 17, 2021; two weeks later than normal in order to allow enough time for the enhanced outreach that was conducted.

At the second reading on December 1, 2021, public comment was received both in favor and against the proposed ordinance. The ordinance was tabled and staff was instructed to further study alternatives to address the issue and conduct additional public outreach.

The publicity surrounding the proposed ordinance change has caused a surge in business license applications for short term rentals; roughly 14 new applications since the Council work session. Therefore, a moratorium is necessary to allow staff sufficient time address the issue while preventing further speculative STR license establishment.

This ordinance is proposed as an emergency ordinance so that it may take effect immediately upon publication (usually on the Saturday following a council meeting). Ordinances are usually introduced on first reading, a second reading is held on a subsequent council date, and they then take effect 10 days after publication, so passing this as an emergency ordinance will considerably shorten the time during which STR licenses can be secured prior to the moratorium.