Commission continues talks on short-term rentals

By Grace Lovins

Continuing discussions on short-term rentals (STR) within the city of Birmingham, city commissioners received another report during the Monday, June 9, meeting which provided an update on current enforcement against problematic STRs.

Building official Jeff Zielke explained that, since the commission’s last update during their May 18 meeting, the city has issued about 73 tickets related to expired rentals, unlicensed rentals or other violations involving both short-term and long-term rentals.

Zielke said the city is actively pursuing unregistered rentals and has sent a list to Airbnb where the matter has been escalated to the appropriate team. He said city staff are still waiting on a response regarding removal of the rental listings.

Planning director Nick Dupuis also joined the conversation, noting that the city’s planning board was looking for more direction before continuing their study on the rentals. Dupuis said the questions included whether the study should be limited to single-family residential neighborhoods, how they should approach owner-occupied or hosted rentals, whether to examine rental density and if the city should incentivize long-term rentals.

Commissioners reiterated that they intended to restrict rentals less than 30 days to the entire city. Commissioner Andrew Haig added that the planning board should pay attention to mixed-use or commercial districts as a U.S. Supreme Court ruling may have some impact on how they approach that portion of the zoning ordinance.

Mayor Clinton Baller and other commissioners generally agreed that the board can disregard looking into rental density. The commission also agreed that there was no current interest in incentivizing long-term rentals.

No formal action was taken by the commission, but, per commissioner request, a report on short-term rentals is anticipated to be given at every commission meeting going forward.