By DEBRA HAIGHT
ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners may have different views about allowing short term rentals in area communities, but they all agree that the state should stay out of the issue. To that end, they voiced their opposition last week to pending legislation in Lansing.
Although no formal vote was taken, commissioners agreed informally to contact area state legislators about their concerns about the proposed bill. As currently written, House Bill 4722 would amend the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act so that short term rentals would be allowed to operate in all residential areas without getting special approval from a local board.
Short term rentals have been a contentious issue over the years, especially in tourist towns where people rent out residences to tourists for short periods of time and communities attempt to put controls and regulations on those efforts.
Legislation in Lansing to control local regulation and allow short term rentals to exist in all residential districts has failed a number of times in recent years but has appeared to gain new life this year. The current bill under consideration has the backing of over a dozen representatives in the state house including 78th District State Representative Brad Paquette.
The bill states that a residential rental of 30 days or less would be permitted, would not need a special or conditional use permit and would not be consider a commercial use of a property. On the other hand, the bill would not affect local regulation as to noise, number of people occupying a building and inspections if applied to all owner-occupied residences.
A legislative analysis conducted by the House Fiscal Agency staff concluded that the bill would have negligible fiscal impact if enacted. Local governments that allow short term rentals might lose licensing or permit fees but also wouldn’t have the costs of enforcing those rules. There would be no fiscal impact on state government.
Last week, commissioners spoke out on both sides of the short term rental issue but ended up agreeing that it’s an issue best handled locally and not in Lansing.
Commissioner Ezra Scott who represents the New Buffalo area and Harbor Country said he’s heard from people on both sides of the issue. “There are 13 miles of lakefront in my district, we’re the short term rental capital of Berrien County,” he said. “There has been a lot of opposition but also support from property owners. It’s a contentious proposal.”
His conclusion is that it’s something the state should stay out of. “Maybe the state should stay out of this and let the local people make the rules,” he said.
Commissioners Robert Harrison and Julie Wuerfel represent the St. Joseph area and said they’ve heard almost entirely from people opposed to the legislation who think that local government should be the ones making such decisions. For their part, the St. Joseph City Commission approved a resolution opposing the bill in mid-May.
County Board Chairman Mac Elliott spoke of his experience as an attorney and representing property owners around inland lakes in Cass County who were against having neighbors rent out their homes to others on a short term basis.
He noted that people invest a lot of money in having lakefront properties only to have someone purchase a nearby home and remodeling it to have bunk beds. “They’re jamming 20 people in like sardines with no regard for those who live there year round,” he said.
He said state courts have put some limits on short term rentals by declaring them a commercial enterprise. “The legislators could change everything,” he said. “Every once in a while the real estate lobby gets in there and tries to push something through. It cycles back through and there’s a lack of institutional memory in Lansing with term limits.”
“It troubles me whenever local discretion gets stripped away, especially when someone is trying to maximize profit without regard to neighbors,” he added. “I think it’s a bad precedent to strip away local control … It would effectively strip local boards and zoning administrators from having a whole lot to say about it. It would be party time literally.”
Commissioner Jon Hinkelman represents Berrien Township north to Watervliet and had a different take on the legislation. While he favors local control, he doesn’t want to see local governments squelching tourism business.
“I have an opposition to it (the legislation) in the way it is written, but I do feel that tourism is very, very important to us,” he said. “Properly done, Air BNB and other ventures are wonderful additions to a community. We should be careful of just squelching it.”
“People don’t want it to get out of hand, but we should be careful to not squelch the industry,” he added. “We don’t want to stop people from coming here. As a property owner, I’m a strong believer in rights but I also love the area and I don’t want to control tourism.”
Elliott said the overall message from the county board is that they want local control and not state dictates. “That is a critical point, if this bill does not become law, the status quo remains,” he said. “People will be able to do short term rentals, they just have to comply with local rules. This bill strips local control away.”
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