Subject:
Title
Ordinance creating Division 5 of Article VI, Chapter 22, of the Pinellas County Code of Ordinances, entitled “Short Term Rentals”.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approval of the ordinance creating Division 5 of Article VI, Chapter 22, entitled “Short Term Rentals”.
• Without mitigating standards, Short Term Rentals (STR) in residential neighborhoods can lead to disproportionate issues such as excessive occupancy, noise, trash, and parking.
• The proposed Ordinance, supported by robust 3rd-party technology, is intended to bring greater accountability with a Certificate of Use requirement.
• The proposed Ordinance addresses the need for an updated short term rental program, inclusive of an improved Certificate of Use process and more appropriate “fit” within Chapter 22 - Buildings & Building Regulations, bringing greater accountability to short term rental owner/operators within residential neighborhoods
• The regulation of STRs will fall under the Code Enforcement Division with support from the Building Division on inspections.
• The fees collected with the initial Certificate of Use and Building Inspection(s) and annual renewal thereafter will cover the total costs of the STR program.
• This ordinance has no fiscal impact on Pinellas County.
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Strategic Priorities:
Healthy and Safe Communities
2.2 Enhance community safety
Summary:
Summary
The ordinance proposes to bring greater accountability to short term rental (STR) owner/operators within the unincorporated Pinellas County to preserve the highest quality of life within residential neighborhoods and to bring an increased awareness and compliance with minimum life-safety standards. The regulation of STR’s will fall under the Code Enforcement Division with support from the Building Division on inspections.
The following is a summary of the Ordinance:
• Areas Embraced - this section clarifies the geographical jurisdiction of the ordinance.
• Definitions - added to clarify key terminology used throughout the ordinance.
• Mandatory Certificate of Use - this section is the key provision that will deliver greater accountability and will be supported by 3rd party technology with the capabilities of “address identification” of STR’s and continual monitoring of host platforms for compliance purposes. Inspections are part of the Certificate of Use process.
• Standards - Minimum Life/Safety Standards enumerated for consistency with the Florida Building Code and Occupancy.
• Inspections - occur at initial Certificate of Use application and every 2-years thereafter to demonstrate meets minimum life/safety standards.
• Advertisement - this is a tool to support the Mandatory Certificate of Use and compliance monitoring.
• Enforcement - updated to have broader application and consistency with the Pinellas County code.
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Background Information:
The short-term rental market has experienced unprecedented growth in Pinellas County over the past decade. Today, there is approximately 2110 +/- short term rentals located in unincorporated Pinellas County without an accounting of where these properties are located and whether the properties are operating in compliance with applicable life-safety regulations and codes (e.g. Florida Building Code). With this growth, the number of complaints to Code Enforcement has increased over 400% in the past 24-months. The need for an updated short term rental program, inclusive of an improved Certificate of Use process and more appropriate “fit” within Chapter 22 - Buildings & Building Regulations, is to deliver greater accountability to short term rental owner/operators within residential neighborhoods are the key drivers to this ordinance update.
Fiscal Impact:
The fees associated with the short-term rental program are correlated to the costs of building and maintaining the short term rental program operations inclusive of additional code enforcement personnel, expanded code enforcement hours, initial costs and annual subscription of 3rd party technology and communications plan implementation.
This ordinance has no fiscal impact on Pinellas County.
Staff Member Responsible:
Kevin McAndrew, Director, Building and Development Review Services
Partners:
N/A
Attachments:
Ordinance
Business Impact Statement
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