Neighbors: Please review the recommended changes that FCNC is suggesting to the Urban County Council. Continue to make your voice heard and share your experiences with short-term rentals (STRs) with our 7th District Council member, Preston Worley (pworley@lexingtonky.gov). – Addison Hosea, Secretary, ELNA
++++
Dear Neighbors,
The Urban County Council has decided to review the short-term rental (STR) ordinance, make changes, and send it back to the Planning Commission for approval. The process will start with the General Government and Planning Committee, go to the full Council, go to the Planning Commission, and return to the Council. This is a very positive step on the part of the Council and the Administration. The Council likely will consider a separate STR ordinance for the rural part of Fayette County at the same time, but its provisions likely will be different from the provisions of the ordinance for Fayette County inside of the Urban Services Boundary.
An aside: At a recent BOA hearing, several Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) were NOT approved because the vote by the BOA resulted in a tie – three votes to approve and three votes to disapprove the award of a CUP. When a request for a conditional use permit results in a tie vote in the Board of Adjustment, the applicant is allowed to return as early as the next monthly meeting to once again apply for a CUP. Neighborhoods who experienced this should be prepared and on the lookout for reapplications.
FCNC Recommended Changes to the STR Ordinance
1. Density Requirement–STRs should be subject to a distance requirement with none within 600 to 1,000 feet from another STR. This will keep neighborhoods from being overrun with small tourist hotels. Exceptions and variances to the density requirement should be from very, very limited.
2. Hosting–“Hosts” should have to be the owner of the STR; the STR should be the owner’s permanent residence; and the host should have to be present when the property is used as an STR. If the owner does not comply, he/she should have to proceed with the more complicated licensing process for an unhosted STR.
3. Displacement and Gentrification–A major factor in approval of an STR should be whether it has displaced a long-term renter or owner less than a year prior to applying for a License. Gentrification should be an issue by census tract.
4. Enforcement needs more clarity and stricter standards. Parties should end at 10:00 p.m. not 11:00, and should not start any earlier than 12:00 p.m. Citizen complaints of all kinds, except for calls to the Lexington Police Department, should be routed and records kept through Lexington’s 311 system, and all complaints should additionally be routed to the Division of Revenue for consideration in the licensing process.
5. Maximum STR occupancy should be two persons per bedroom up to a maximum of twelve (12) transient renters at one time. Nuisance violations should increase with higher occupancy.
It is important to act now to make recommendations to your district council member and council members at large. Getting changes now at the beginning of the process is critical rather than trying to make changes after decisions have been made. You can google “Lexington Urban County Council” to find individual contact information or you can email all CMs at councilmembers.
The LFUCG has started a new effort to improve public engagement in LFUCG affairs. The issue has a long history of citizens claiming that communication and information is often minimal. The website for the effort is engage.lexingtonky.gov. Sign up for it. The Council has asked for more contact from citizens, specifically on short-term rentals.
One of the first engagement efforts of the workgroup that is most interested in improving communications was the short-term rental survey that many of you filled out, and the results were interesting–
1. The four Council Districts with the highest responses, in order, were the 5th, 3rd, 10th, and 1st.
2. 44% of the people responding had complaints about STRs in their neighborhoods.
3. The largest numbers of responses for changing the ordinance involved, in order, having a density requirement for STRs, noise limits and quiet hours, notice to neighbors about any new STR with contact information, and fines and enforcement for violations. Respondents noted the relationship between the expansion of STRs, the availability of housing, and the lack of affordable housing.
The Division of Revenue reported last week that 625 STRs had been licensed, 339 received first-notices of violation, 154 received second-notices of violation, and 27 received citations. Some Council Members expressed concern that STR owners had not understood the Licensing process. Here is that process: The STR Ordinance was passed on July 11, 2023, and owners of STRs that had started before that date had an obligation to apply for a license and a zoning compliance permit by January 11, 2024. They were to be “grandfathered” in and did not have to apply for a conditional use permit through the Board of Adjustment. There were 1,250 STRs in Lexington in mid-summer 2023. The Board of Adjustment was required to approve new STRs started after July 11, 2023. The BOA has had difficulty applying the existing STR ordinance because of a vagueness in language and a lack of information.
Changes obviously are necessary. I’m pleased that the Council will be acting on this need. Please do your best to supply information on improvements that would make the ordinance better.
Thanks for everything you do for your neighborhoods.
Walt Gaffield, President
Fayette County Neighborhood Council, Inc.
Sent by Janet Cabaniss, FCNC Secretary
jcabaniss