By: Stan Maddux
NEW BUFFALO – A final vote on a proposed short term rental cap in New Buffalo was expected Monday night but pushed back in what’s been a more than one-year firestorm of a battle.
Mayor John Humphrey said 13 residents in certified letters to the city asked for a third public hearing.
As a result, Humphrey said the requests under state law must be granted.
The final vote is now scheduled to occur during the regularly scheduled meeting of the city council on November 15 following another public hearing.
The city council in September gave preliminary approval to a proposed ordinance prohibiting additional vacation homes in all three of the residentially zoned districts in the community.
The measure also calls for the possibility of adding more short term rentals a year later when the city determines if any places exist for them to go without becoming too dense in number.
Preliminary approval came after the New Buffalo Planning Commission citing a need for more information recommended not to impose a cap.
The friction between opponents and supporters reached new heights, perhaps, when police during 45 minutes of public comment escorted second homeowner Laura Murray from City Hall.
Mayor John Humphrey warned the full-time Chicago resident to stop what he felt were personal attacks.
Humphrey ordered her removed when he felt her words again crossed the line.
“The perception that has been created is that of a power hungry mayor whose personal vendetta against short term rentals has clouded his judgement and is endangering the future of the town,” Murray said.
Murray said she has taken a recent hit financially and needs to start renting her second home during the summer to pay the property taxes on it, but won’t be able to if the number of short term rentals is capped.
The possibility of a cap follows an explosion of short term rentals and full-time residents complaining about disruption such as loud parties in their neighborhoods.
Supporters of a cap also blame the amount of short term rentals on housing prices skyrocketing beyond what young families can afford.
More families with children are viewed by cap supporters as key to reestablishing a more year round economy and boosting lagging school enrollment numbers.
Opponents of a cap, though, claim there are no longer enough meat and potatoes jobs for families to move here and replace tourism as the city’s main economic driver.
They also believe economic gains from having more full-time residents would not replace what is lost from tourists going elsewhere to find vacation rentals.
“New Buffalo was really struggling in the 80’s but has since blossomed thanks to tourism, but now we have a council that wants to return us to prehistoric times,” said short term rental owner Bart Goldberg.
Currently, the city has close to 150 registered vacation homes.
Those rentals will be allowed to continue operating but not the estimated 50 to 150 unregistered short term rentals, officials said.
Currently, more than 100 properties are on a waiting list for a short term rental permit.
Bill Logothetis said he’s concerned the value of his lakefront condominium and the number of businesses will diminish if a cap on short term rentals drives tourists away.
He also questioned whether a problem with disruption really exists, citing roughly 20 police reports annually on complaints about large noise from parties and other forms of disruption like vehicular traffic and litter.
Humphrey said a police report is not generated on every complaint.
“It’s very unfortunate there are some folks in this room that get up and want to say they were not given the data when a sent them a detailed spread sheet with 168 police complaints and showing 25-percent of every registered rental in the city had at least one police complaint,” Humphrey said.
He also said more than 600 complaints related to disruption from short term rentals have been reported to the city.
“And we still chase illegal rentals and illegal rentals are very hard to catch,” Humphrey said.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.