As a resort community we have a lot of people come and go in
the community throughout the year. There
are many forms of housing to accommodate all these individuals in Breezy
Point. We have rooms in the resort and motel,
timeshare units, campgrounds, and single family homes providing for vacation
rentals. When people come here they vacation
and have a good time.
Although the city may have grown as a vacation area and
resort the city has permanent year round residents. These residents live in neighborhoods with
single family homes. Scattered around
the community are homes that are rented as vacation rental units. Many of these are near the resort but a few
are in other areas of the community.
Having these vacation rentals in primarily single family neighborhoods
creates conflicts when vacationers have a bit too much fun.
In the past year or so the Planning Commission has been
trying to get a handle on how to control the spread of these units. The ordinances had provided for their
establishment with the issuance of an Interim Use Permit in an R-3 zone. The R-3 zone is primarily for single family homes. An Interim Use Permit is similar to a Conditional
Use Permit. After a public hearing to
consider the use, conditions are established on the use of the property and a
permit is issued for the Vacation Rental.
With an Interim Use Permit, it is issued for a specified period of time. The owner would need to reapply for the
permit when expired. With this procedure
is it is extremely difficult to say no to a property owner who wishes to
establish a vacation rental when they have met all the ordinance requirements. Once established, if problems occur the
permit can be revoked or isn’t renewed. The
problem is, during the duration of the permit neighboring property owners have
to deal with the issues these sometimes create.
The Planning Commission recommended to council the removal
of this clause from the ordinances. The
recommendation would provide that new Vacation Rentals are no longer allowed in
R-3 zones. The council adopted the change
so the creation of new Vacation Rental units is no longer allowed in this
district.
This is a step in the right direction but doesn’t solve all
the problems these units pose. The city
continues to have units that were established in the past as
“grandfathered”. The commission looked
for other methods to control these uses, all of which were problematic. The best advice for neighboring property
owners that have issues with renters is to call the police. They will respond to control the
situation. Property owners of these
properties will subsequently be informed of their renter’s behaviors. It is hoped these instances will be minimized
over time as owners better understand the problems and who they rent to. Vacationers having a good time is a given. Stepping
over the line infringes on others.
Vacation rentals are enjoyed by most without problems. Unfortunately there are some who don’t
understand boundaries. Limiting these helps
in minimizing the impact these have on residents of the community.
