Conduct a public hearing and unless information is provided to the contrary, approve Ordinance No. 8-2022 on second reading.

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. 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. Since that time, there have been three additional work sessions on February 8, 2022, March 8, 2022 and April 6, 2022 to discuss regulations and issues and to receive input from the public. 

The publicity surrounding the proposed ordinance caused a flood of speculative business license applications for short term rentals at the end of 2021 and there were a total of 147 secured before the moratorium was put in place. This current moratorium is set to end on April 30, 2022, but new regulations, if any, have not been established. To that end, the moratorium needs to be extended  to continue to allow Council to continue to explore regulatory options and to prevent further speculative STR licenses. 

Staff selected June 30, 2022 in order to avoid having to do a second extension.  This proposed moratorium will expire before June 30 if the  regulatory ordinance regarding STRs becomes effective before June 30.