Public hearing set on short-term rental rules

By Grace Lovins

Birmingham is moving on to the next step in the process for establishing short-term rental regulations within the city, setting a public hearing to review the proposed ordinance amendments.

Residents have the opportunity to share their opinions on the proposal during the Monday, September 28, commission meeting.

Per the commission packet for the Monday, August 24, meeting, the city’s planning board held a public hearing on the ordinance proposal during their Wednesday, August 12, meeting. The ordinance amendments in question would set a 30-day minimum on all rental units in the city in all zoning districts. Exceptions were made for the downtown overlay and mixed-use rail district zoning districts.

At the end of the Monday, August 24, meeting when the public hearing was set, city staff also provided an update on rental enforcement between the city’s building, police and planning departments.

Building official Jeff Zielke explained that the department is continuing the same process of monitoring rentals and rental websites. He noted in his report in the meeting packet that, since the commission’s last meeting on Monday, August 14, the city has issued six new violations to rental property owners. However, none of them were short-term rentals.

Zielke also spotlighted one short-term rental incident that took place since the last report where a rental booked through VRBO had not been cancelled since it had been booked a year prior for the Dream Cruise. He said Birmingham police helped contact the rental owner who talked with the renters and had them leave the property.

Aside from setting the public hearing during the consent agenda approval, no formal action was taken by the commission regarding the short-term rental report. Zielke said the department will continue the ongoing process of keeping an eye on rentals and enforcing them when applicable.