Mayor & Commission Meetings

GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Monday, March 25, 2024 Committee Members Present: Commissioner Patrick Davenport, Committee Chair Commissioner Mike Hamby Commissioner Tiffany Taylor Commissioner Melissa Link (Phone) Commissioner Dexter Fisher Staff: Blaine Williams, Manager Travis Cooper, Chief Information Officer Josh Edwards, Assistant Manager Brad Griffin, Planning Director John Hawkins, Deputy Chief Attorney Bruce Lonnee, Assistant Planning Director Austin Jackson, Senior Assistant Attorney Doug Hansford, Building Inspection Chinesia Thompson, Recorder Committee Chair Davenport called the meeting to order at 12:01 p.m. A. Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Fisher made the motion to approve the Minutes of the February 19, 2024 meeting. Commissioner Hamby seconded the motion and it passed by unanimous vote. B. Commission Identified Items of Interest: Review recently approved Short Term Rental Ordinance for any revisions necessary to comply with Georgia State Code and associated case law (Mayor Girtz assigned to GOC on February 6, 2024) Assistant Manager Josh Edwards began the discussion by stating they would continue the conversation about Short Term Rentals. He mentioned that the Attorney's Office would provide information about relevant state legislation and that the Assistant Planning Director would share data on Short Term Rental properties pulled from the system, as well as an updated timeline. He then turned the meeting over to Attorney John Hawkins. Attorney John Hawkins provided details on House Bill 1121, which is pending in the state legislature and pertains to short-term rentals. He outlined three key points regarding this bill: First, it applies to short-term rentals that were already in operation before the local government enacted any regulations governing them. Second, the bill essentially grants these existing short- term rentals the right to continue operating if they meet one of two criteria laid out in the legislation. The two criteria are: 1) The short-term rental had previously been approved by the local government prior to any new regulations being put in place. OR 2) If the local government did not have any regulations at that time, the short-term rental had paid all applicable taxes within a specified timeframe set forth in the bill. House Bill 1121 aims to allow short-term rentals that pre-dated local regulations to remain in operation, as long as they either obtained approval previously or paid required taxes, despite any new rules being implemented by the local government.  Assistant Planning Director Bruce Lonnee shared data pulled from their software system with the committee. The data represented the number of short-term rentals that were advertised between September 2022 and September 2023 - the year prior to enacting the moratorium on new rentals. These numbers captured properties that were listed for short-term rental occupancy during that period, but did not necessarily reflect which ones are currently operating. Bruce stated that the total number of short-term rentals identified was 804. He provided some additional statistics:  37% of the 804 properties are on record as having a homestead exemption  Of that 37%, 54% are owned by Athens residents  73% of the 804 were zoned as single-family residential Bruce noted that since the adoption of the new short-term rental ordinance, they have been accepting applications for Short-Term Rental Home Occupation Permits and Commercial Short- Term Rental permits. However, so far only 2 Home Occupation permits have been issued, and they have received 0 applications for Commercial permits. Regarding property ownership, Bruce mentioned that Georgia owners account for 750 of the identified short-term rentals, with 551 of those having an Athens zip code. Only 6.7% are owned by out-of-state owners. The committee asked to check into adding Homestead Exemption plus one. Also asked for clarification on a guest house. The committee also asked to look into allowing long term renters to get permission from a landlord to then be able to do short term rentals. Planning Director Brad Griffin mentioned the reason that we set it up as such is because the Dormant Commerce Clause issue. The way that its sent up allows an out of state owner that is out of state could be utilized as a short term rental through a full time tenant should cover this issue. Assistant Planning Director Bruce Lonnee provided an updated timeline on the process for establishing the legal non-conforming list for short-term rentals. It will take around a week to put together the messaging on how this information will be posted, who will post it, what supporting documents need to be submitted, and what qualifications allow being on the list. Once that is prepared, the 6-month window will start for taking in information from short-term rental operators, communicating with them, answering questions, and guiding them through the permitting process if possible. In the final 2-4 weeks of that 6-month period, they expect a huge influx of last-minute submissions from people trying to get on the legal non-conforming list before the deadline. After vetting all submissions, the final perfected list will be established. This is when the 24-month sunset period will begin for those properties on the legal non-conforming list to cease short-term rental operations or come into compliance. Attorney John Hawkins elaborated on the concept of the relief valve, particularly in relation to the Sunset Provision applying to the Legal Non-Conforming list. He explained that if a sunset provision is imposed on the legal non-conforming list, operators may argue that they need more time to recoup their investment in short-term rentals. A relief valve provision would offer a process for individualized due diligence. Under this provision, operators could apply for an extension of the sunset provision, demonstrating the need for additional time to recoup their investment. The committee discussed the management of this process, with Attorney Hawkins suggesting the implementation of an application process where operators would apply to staff, justify their need for an extension, and undergo a review process to determine eligibility. If dissatisfied with the decision, operators could seek an administrative hearing before the administrative hearing officer. The committee deliberated on the rationale behind extending the sunset provision, with Attorney Hawkins highlighting that from a legal perspective, it would weaken the argument of some operators claiming insufficient time to recover their investment. Subsequently, the committee addressed potential violations like noise and trash issues with short-term rentals. They discussed establishing penalties for ordinance violations and considered mandating security cameras (ring, porch, etc.) at these properties. Attorney John Government Operations Committee Meeting Minutes Page 2 03252024  Hawkins mentioned there were three quality of life violation provisions built into the state's HB 1121 bill that he would look into further. The discussion then circled back to the "relief valve" concept and the sunset clause timeline. The committee discussed pending litigation around a short-term rental, the committee considered how that impacts their ability to make certain decisions related to short term rentals. They discussed extending the sunset period from 2 years to 5 years for short-term rentals. There was talk of amending the ordinance to incorporate violation provisions as well. Looking at upcoming dates, the committee decided to keep their next meeting on April 15th. However, Planning Director Brad Griffin noted that if they pursue the relief valve provision, it will require significant staff work that cannot be turned around quickly in just a week or two. The mechanisms, criteria, and program details would take longer to properly develop. Attorney John Hawkins reiterated that solid criteria would need to be established for determining recoupment of investments if using that as a basis for granting relief valve extensions. Defined factors would be needed to guide staff evaluations, which may take some time. Assistant Manager Josh Edwards added that currently they do not have staff qualified to evaluate recoupment of investments or financial review for short-term rental operators. His recommendation would be to engage a third-party financial expert to properly assess those factors if the relief valve moves forward. Commissioner Hamby made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Fisher seconded the motion and it passed by unanimous vote. The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m. Government Operations Committee Meeting Minutes Page 3 03252024