Peninsula STR Alliance

Mark your calendars to be in Hampton on June 12th at 6:00 p.m.! The city of Hampton is on the brink of passing what could be the best short-term rental ordinance for any city in America. This could be the catalyst of changing short-term rentals in Hampton Roads and maybe even Virginia, because just as other cities follow bad short-term rental ordinances enacted by Sister cities, once Hampton Road cities' leaders see how this STR Ordinance is going to have investors pour money into older Hampton homes and see the tax revenue going to Hampton, they're going to follow Hampton's good example. Whether you have a short-term rental in Hampton or not, if you are a short-term rental advocate, YOU NEED TO BE HERE to speak and to witness this historic event. The city Planning Commission passed a new ordinance as a recommendation last night for City Council and City Council will vote on it on June 12th at 22 Lincoln Street which is the City Hall for Hampton on the 8th floor in City Council chambers. The Ordinance is amazing and only needs 4 changes that we are advocating for. Please connect with me about the rest of the details including the 4 changes needed. I can also give you the email address to send your letters of support to in advance, but please make sure that you include the four changes that are needed when you write your letter of support.
Greg Garrett
Text me at 757-879-1504
Email at [email protected]

.........URGENT ACTION NEEDED.........

Hampton is getting ready to pass a short-term rental ordinance. It has the potential of being the best short-term rental Ordinance for any city in America!
However, the current proposed Ordinance for short term rentals COULD ELIMINATE HALF OF EXISTING SHORT TERM RENTALS in Hampton.

The Planning Commission and City Council needs us to make it clear that this is not acceptable.

Please join us and bring others to help make that point. Please make your comment here, even if you do not have a short-term rental in Hampton. We're looking for everyone in Eastern Virginia who is in favor of short-term rentals to be willing to speak up or at least write an email.

Public comment session:

Planning Commission meeting is on the 8th floor TODAY (May 16th) Hampton CIty Hall 3:30 pm. Again, if you cannot make it today, please comment here so we will know that you are in favor of Hampton creating the most fair and balanced short-term rental ordinance in America.

We believe there are 4 crucial changes that need to be made to this current proposed Ordinance. Please respond or comment here and we will give you the details of these changes that are needed. It's not too late. The city of Hampton is on the right track, and they are listening and want to do what is right for the city, including the short-term rental investor community as well as the neighborhoods.

Peninsula STR Alliance, if interested in being on an email distribution list for STR communication and advocacy, please send me your email address.

Regardless of where you own a STR or perhaps plan to in the future, your participation in shaping regulations is crucial! Hampton is considering severe limits on short-term rentals, like limiting short-term rentals to owner occupied homes, only being able to advertise or rent the home for 90 - 120 days per year, etc. Hampton is also considering density limitations that would not allow more than one short-term rental on a block face or within 1000 feet of other short-term rentals and many other complicated formulas that would inhibit the free enterprise system from working as it works best.

Hampton is also considering some good short-term rental restrictions like making sure short-term rentals are registered, taxing short-term rental owners, requiring safety measures in short-term rentals, etc..

We believe it's important to support good short-term rental regulations while pushing back on unreasonable and unnecessary short-term rental regulations that harm our city's tourism income, encroach on home ownership rights, and prevent free enterprise that ultimately brings more jobs to the area.The Hampton staff who were creating the new proposed ordinance is functioning from the core belief that short-term rentals are "harmful" to the neighbors and neighborhoods.

We will be sending opportunities to speak at city council or any other public meetings as they become available. In the meantime, please consider emailing Hampton City Council or speaking with anyone you know to share your opinion on why the city should be more open toward enacting regulations that help shape good policy vs overly restrictive regulations that prevent the majority of STR from being legal. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to Hampton city Council regarding your position on STR:

[email protected]
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Well that was a major loss for the city of NN tonight! City Council voted to make it illegal to have a short term rental unless you are an owner occupant, your homes have to have less than six guests at a time, and you have to have one off street parking spot even if it wouldn’t be afforded to you if you had a long-term renter or lived there yourself. You should be furious & oh by the way, most of you are all now illegal.

DID YOU KNOW NN WANTS TO SHUT DOWN STR’s?

The public hearing is slated to commence at 7pm on Tue, June 28, in Council Chambers at 2400 Washington Avenue.

Please come and let your voices be heard that STR’s can provide a win for the community, win for owners, and win for the City!

See proposed regulations, the most problematic being that you cannot run a short term rental that is not owner occupied or a whole house short term rental.

🙏🙏🙏If you would like to share an email in favor of supporting entrepreneurialism and encouraging positive growth in our city, please email city council and let them know these regulations will shut down good people trying to promote growth and tax revenue in the city of Newport News!🙏🙏🙏

[email protected]
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DID YOU KNOW….NN wants to shut down AIRBNB’s!

Please let your voice be heard! Tue, June 28, 7pm at City Council!

As you may know, the City has been working on the development of a short term rental ordinance since 2019. There was some delay due to COVID, but overall the City has been moving forward. A draft ordinance was presented to Council probably close to two years ago. At that time, based on feedback from stakeholders, Council asked that staff go back and work through a variety of issues. The process included stakeholders, citizens, the Planning Commission Regulations Committee and ultimately the approval of the Planning Commission. This most recent draft ordinance adopted by the Planning Commission was what was presented to Council by staff and will be considered by Council at a public hearing during their June 28th, Regular Session meeting.

NN is beginning to discuss regulations for short term rentals again.

From my contact at city of NN:

“As you may be aware, currently, short-term rentals are not allowed per the Zoning Ordinance in the city. Recently City Council had a work session on draft regulations and they plan to hear the item at their meeting on June 28th. If Council approves the regulations, staff will begin the process of notification and meeting with those who operate short-term rentals so that they can become compliant.”

If you look at the bottom of the photo under compliance you’ll find what they are looking at proposing in order to approve short term rentals.

Email city council encouraging them to promote a spirit of entrepreneurialism, to enforce existing city regulations vs unnecessary overlays. Short-term rentals are an exciting new industry with remarkable potential! They provide opportunities for local investment and entrepreneurship by our citizens as well as a steady flow of new customers for our entire commerce sector. They provide an opportunity for us to show off our city and bring in already-vetted visitors to participate in our culture. We believe that when STR markets are bolstered by supporting local owners and collaborating as a community, everyone wins!

[email protected]

This would be POWERFUL!

https://www.wavy.com/news/virginia/state-senator-proposes-bill-limiting-local-governments-power-over-airbnb-and-vrbo-rentals/

State senator proposes bill limiting local governments’ power over Airbnb and Vrbo rentals In Senate Bill 602, State Sen. Bill DeSteph (R-Virginia Beach) proposes doing away with the ability for cities, counties and towns to tell property owners renting on platforms such as Airbnb and Vr…

If you’re an STR owner on the Peninsula, let us know! Drop your email below!

The premise that we should begin with regarding short term rentals is that there should be uniform enforcement of local laws, like noise ordinances, whether someone is a homeowner, a long term tenant or a short-term tenant as far as the prohibitions or rules for living in a house, condo, apartment etc. As long as these rules are obeyed, we should all be allowed to enjoy our property rights within the four corners of our property whether we are owners, guests or tenants, while at the same time respecting and not of abusing the property rights of our neighbors.

THE VA BEACH CONTROVERSY:
Virginia Beach's newly modified short term rental ordinance is anti property rights, anti small business, anti entrepreneur, anti tourism, and is unequally/unfairly applied. Va Beach is the first and most visible City that has created a law that is so unreasonable, they have now been sued by their local Association of Realtors and the State Association of Realtors. But this is only the beginning, because currently Cities and Counties all across Virginia have either already taken a position that short term rentals are illegal, or are in the process of discussions of how to handle, and unfortunately restrict, short term rentals.

BENEFITS OF SHORT TERM RENTALS:

1. Tourism
Every City and County that wants to have events like Something in The Water, Hampton Jazz Festival, 4th of July Celebrations etc should embrace short term rentals because they handle the overflow that the hotels will never be built to handle. Hotels need roughly 70% occupancy, but short term rentals can survive on 30% occupancy. Therefore short term rentals are a practical and beneficial way to handle the extra demand created if we're going to fully embrace our tourism potential and have multiple Festivals, Holiday Events Etc where our current hotels always sell out, while we also prepare to bring in major sporting events or even major sports leagues.
In light of the current pandemic, there are many people who will not travel where they can only go into public accommodations like hotels. More and more people are requiring whole house rentals as a prerequisite for travel for their family.
Unreasonably restricting short term rentals is working against our desire to increase our tourism here in 757.

2. Tax Revenue
Short term rentals are a source of millions of dollars of tax revenue here in Virginia. Currently, lots of the short term rental owners are operating underground because there is either lack of information, lack of clarity, or fear on the part of landlords that they're going to be shut down if they are exposed or register with their localities. Tax revenues for short term rentals go beyond just the lodging taxes because it is basically a cottage industry that spins off other small businesses who also pay taxes, generates traffic at local retail centers and restaurants, and increases assessments of houses due to the short term rental owners continually to improve the interior and exterior of their homes thereby increasing their tax assessment and the taxes.

3. Improving our Aging Housing Stock
It is widely known and accepted that short term rentals have a tremendous amount of pressure to improve their homes, inside and out. This is because of the review process that takes place and how they are rated by reservation providers like Airbnb, VRBO etc. Many times, especially in older neighborhoods, the short term rental properties are obvious because they are the prettiest, most improved properties on their block. They stand out with bright new paint jobs, enhanced and improved curb appeal, landscaping etc.
While we still have lots of homes in Eastern Virginia that don't have central air conditioning and look basically like they have looked for 30 to 100 years, this is not the case with short term rentals. They simply would not be able to attract guests if they were left in their original condition. Every time a new short term rental goes into a neighborhood and significantly improves the exterior appearance of the home, it is an inspiration to longer term neighbor homeowners to do the same thing.

4. Easy Removal of Problem Occupants
If a neighborhood has a homeowner who creates havoc in the neighborhood, other than the neighbor doing something so egregious that the neighbor would end up going to jail, there's virtually nothing that the neighbors can do to evict a homeowner.
In the case of a long term tenant, which is allowed all across our Cities and Counties without reservation, evicting tenants who cause havoc in a neighborhood could take 4 to 9 months, even if you get the cooperation from the landlord which you would not necessarily have.
For a short term tenant who creates a problem, they can be removed in a matter of hours. This is actually what the responsible short term rental owners do because they want a good relationship with their neighbors.

PROBLEMS and LOST OPPORTUNITY:

1. Hurting Budding Entrepreneurs
By unreasonably restricting short term rentals, the Cities and Counties are stopping many people's first entry into being a small business owner and getting ahead financially. This is one of the best stepping stones in today's economy to create income outside of a paycheck to begin the process of being a small business owner. There are small business owners and large business owners all across our nation who started with buying one rental property.

2. Homes Not Available for Families Experiencing Catastrophic Loss
To unreasonably restrict short term rentals means that you are eliminating the best source of homes for families who have experienced a catastrophic loss from a flood, fire, wind damage etc to their home. Instead of going into a hotel environment, families are able to go into a home and continue without significant disruption after a catastrophic loss where it may take 2-10 months to repair and restore their home.

EXAMPLES OF UNREASONABLE RESTRICTIONS ALLOWED UNDER CURRENT STATE LAW:

1. Limiting short term rentals to homes that are owner occupied, just renting out a room.
This is a problem because according to Airbnb, close to 90% of their rentals are whole house rentals. This also doesn't solve the problem of families wanting private, non-public sanitary space as a prerequisite for tourism travel. It also doesn't allow families to stay under one roof in a 2/3/4 bedroom or larger home.

2. Limiting short-term rentals to only XX days per year.
This makes it financially imprudent to have a short term rental if you don't have the freedom to rent it as the market allows. What does this restriction actually accomplish if the tenants or guests are obeying the rules?

3. Requiring neighborhood approval at XX%.
All it takes is one neighbor to stir up the other neighbors as far as creating the fear of wild parties and a neighborhood nuisance, and you can never obtain something like the 75% approval from neighbors as now required in Virginia Beach outside of the Overlay Districts

4. Requirement of obtaining a conditional use permit:
This is a guarantee of lack of uniformity of the application of the law and the lack of uniformity of the economic opportunity related to short term rentals. If neighbors don't object, the Conditional Use Permit might be granted. But if neighbors show up to the Conditional Use Permit Hearing and protest, City Councils and Boards of Supervisors will typically deny the permit, even if there is no history or rational basis for a belief that the landlord will create problems in the neighborhood

5. Limiting Short Term Rentals to Certain Parts of a City/County
This is completely unfair and eliminates the economic opportunity for some while giving economic opportunity to others even though the properties are zoned the same in the same city

6. Parking Requirements
Any parking requirements that are different than a regular homeowner's or long-term tenant's parking requirements are unreasonable

7. Occupancy Limitations
Any occupancy limitations that are different than a regular homeowner's or long term tenant's occupancy regulations are unreasonable

8. Minimum Stay Requirements
Everybody that is a guest or tenant in the home has to obey the rules other homeowners, guests or tenants in other homes have to obey so any minimum number of days required for guests or maximum number of guests per week or per month is unreasonable

REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS:
1. Putting up some type of a reasonably sized sign in the front yard that gives neighbors and others a 24-hour contact number for someone in case there is a problem

2. Allowing homeowner associations and condominium associations to govern themselves and implement restrictions

3. Requiring a placard in a prominent place inside of each short term rental home outlining simple rules that are important not to violate like time restrictions in the local noise ordinance, reminders not to park in other neighbors spaces etc

4. Requiring Registration
In an effort to enforce the rules and ensure tax collection, registration for properties should be required

5. Requirement of Safety Equipment
Fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors for homes with gas should be allowed to be required. Inspections once every 3 years seems reasonable

6. Penalties for Failure to File or Pay Taxes
Like any other taxes that are not paid, penalties for failure to pay should be allowed

7. Removal of Rights for Short Term Rental for Nuisance Properties
Some ability for Cities and Counties to eliminate properties from being allowed to be operated as short term rentals (for 1-3 years) after a certain number of unresolved violations or verified complaints should be allowed

CONCLUSION:
We really need to amend our current statewide enabling legislation to allow the free enterprise system to work while permitting common sense win-win regulations to protect our citizens and improve our neighborhoods. What we don't need is the continuation of the current ordinance which allows localities to be completely unreasonable and basically eliminate the rights of property owners and guests to benefit from the the opportunities that short term rentals provide.

Like ridesharing (Uber, Lyft etc) & food trucks, short-term rentals are a wave of the future. This is something to be embraced and not feared. We need to look forward and not look back.

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