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Norfolk — Norfolk’s City Council approved a new round of regulations on short-term rentals, like Airbnb stays, over the objections of one councilman Tuesday.
Tommy Smigiel, who represents the Ocean View area of the city where the bulk of Airbnb listings are located, said he believed after talking with constituents that the changes to Norfolk’s zoning law seemed to be trying to solve problems that didn’t exist. One example he cited is forcing the owners of larger, four- or five-bedroom homes to seek a special permit from the council to rent them out.
He said he was initially against short-term rentals, but he’d been converted after he saw what a boon it was for property owners and local businesses that have benefited from new visitors to an area that lacks high-quality hotels.
Short-term rentals, most commonly listed on websites like Airbnb, have proliferated across the nation over the past few years as property owners or renters look to squeeze more money out of their apartments, condos and houses by renting for a couple of days or a week, like a hotel.
The biggest difference: Hotels and motels pay taxes and have business licenses. If a resident lists their place on Airbnb, typically the city doesn’t have much say and doesn’t get a cut of the profits.
This is the city’s second stab at corralling short-term rentals and collecting taxes. Norfolk tried last year to get a registration program off the ground, but the city hasn’t been able to enforce the rules due to a lack of both manpower and legal firepower.
[ Previous coverage: Norfolk tried to regulate Airbnbs. It didn’t work. So they’re trying again. ]
In Norfolk, around 475 houses and apartments were listed on Airbnb, but less than a quarter have gotten on board with the city’s registration scheme.
Several residents who list properties for rent on Airbnb called into Tuesday’s council meeting to say the city’s registration process is confusing and overly complicated.
“You almost need a law degree to figure out what you need to get this permit, which is probably why you only have 83 people registered," said George Wingate, a Navy sailor who rents out a property on Hillside Drive while he’s stationed in Charleston, South Carolina.
Smigiel echoed these residents' concerns later in the meeting when he announced he’d vote against the proposed changes.
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“Guess what’s going to happen when we put more restrictions on: We’re going to have more illegal (rentals) with more people doing this because they can’t navigate our system," he said. “The whole approach that Norfolk has taken with short term rentals has been a disaster from the very beginning. ... We haven’t been organized.”
The council ultimately approved the updates to the city’s zoning code on a 7-1 vote, with the acknowledgement that another round of updates would likely follow. The changes include more requirements for the property owners, like posting contact information both inside and outside of the rented residence.
The main change is to shift such zoning violations from criminal to civil offenses, which Deputy City Attorney Adam Melita has previously said would give the city a much easier way to serve and assess penalties on non-local property owners. That’s proven to be a major hurdle to the city’s enforcement efforts, Melita told the council in September
“Getting people signed up and paying taxes is the goal, and I think this gets us closer to that goal and I’m happy to support it,” said Councilman Martin Thomas, who represents Willoughby Spit.
Thomas said he’s heard complaints from an entire street of people there about one larger house that often plays host to partying visitors.
There was also some discussion from council members about how this may impact condo owners, who are blocked from renting out their property on Airbnb if they’re not present at the time. Several council members said they agreed there was more work to do, including figuring out how to let condo owners participate, but decided push it off to an expected future update to the zoning code.
Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com