Commission reviews update on enforcement

By Grace Lovins

As directed by the Birmingham city commission, city staff presented a report on short-term rentals during the Monday, May 18, meeting, providing commissioners with an update of the city’s enforcement and work to identify short-term rentals in the city since the commission’s last discussion.

The city commission asked during the May 4 meeting that a report on short-term rentals be included in each meeting agenda packet going forward. City manager Jana Ecker explained that since the commission’s last meeting, city staff have been working to review the rentals offered in Birmingham, be it registered rentals or those found on Airbnb and Vrbo.

Over the two weeks between commission meetings, Ecker said staff from the building department, planning department and police department have worked together to identify 1,658 total rental units in the city. She explained that the number is a combination of both short- and long-term rentals, as the city doesn’t currently distinguish between the two.

Ecker also said that several unregistered rental units were found and issued enforcement tickets. Per the meeting packet, 12 short-term rentals were unregistered and 17 long-term rentals were unregistered.

The police department has also been given a list of identified short-term rentals, Ecker said, so officers know which properties are “rumored to be” or the city has experience with being short-term rental units. She said that when the report included in the meeting packet was drafted, the city had only received one complaint on a short-term rental which came from a neighbor.

Building official Jeff Zielke and Ecker also said that they have not had much luck with contacting Airbnb and Vrbo to take down unregistered rentals, but that they are continuing to work on it.

No formal action was taken by the commission, but the city’s planning board will be discussing the topic during their next meeting on June 10. Both the commission and planning board will also be discussing the topic during the Monday, June 15, joint workshop.