Foote in the Short Term Rental Door

[XLFD]

A Lansing-based writer recently spotlighted an appointed local official making inflexible claims for the Ludington area as regards the topic of short term rentals.  Planning and Zoning Administrator Carol Foote seems to have put her last name in her mouth when describing the City's policies as regards vacation rentals.  She has the final word in the article, the rest of that article is included in order to show the context.  Her statements are dismantled in the footenotes.

Towns and state official disagree on Airbnb proposal

By ZARIA PHILLIPS
Capital News Service
LANSING — At least one state lawmaker is advocating an end to a municipality’s ability to regulate the short-term rentals of homes often referred to as Airbnbs.
Resort communities like South Haven and Traverse City have zoning ordinances regulating how many and where short-term rentals are allowed.
Traverse City residents help local authorities enforce such regulations, said David Weston, the city’s zoning administrator.
“They’ll call authorities with complaints on noise or if they see a rental listing in an area that they know we don’t allow rentals,” he said. “We have zoning ordinances that allow housing rentals in commercial areas-like downtown, but not in residential neighborhoods.”
Rep. Jason Sheppard, R-Temperance, is pushing to limit cities’ rights to regulate short-term rentals and allow residents to decide for themselves if they wanted to rent their homes.
“It’s a property rights issue. If you buy a house you should be able to do with it what you want,” said Teri Ambs Langley, Sheppard’s legislative consultant. “There are a lot of arguments that residents should be able to prevent the noise and undesirable renters that come with these short-term rentals but a lot of towns already have noise and behavior ordinances that take care of that.”
Critics of Airbnb say that these short term rentals take money from cities for marketing.
“Airbnb and these other short term rentals don’t pay money to the Convention and Visitors Bureau as hotels do,” said Linda Hoath, a member of the board of directors for the Sault Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “So that takes away from money put towards marketing for towns through the Pure Michigan campaign.”
Hotels pay 5 percent per room sold to the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Hoath. They pay more if the hotel is in a larger city like Detroit or Grand Rapids.
But some tourism officials say the impact of short-term rentals on communities is mixed.
“Airbnb does broadly affect hotel stays, and I think we’ll see more of that in the long term,” said Scott Reinert, the executive director for the South Haven Convention and Visitors Bureau. “But this is also something that has really helped with tourism in a lot of these towns. So short term rentals are somewhat helpful.”
Reinert said that the current regulations are fine.

“There might be some people who feel like their property rights are being violated but we haven’t heard much of that here. The community here sees the current regulations as a good thing.”
Carol Foote, the planning and zoning administrator for Ludington, says short-term rentals aren’t allowed at all there.
Ludington, like many other cities, has a tourism boom during the summer and spring, she said. But the short-term rentals are empty during the rest of the year. And that’s not a good thing in residential areas.
“We really don’t want dark neighborhoods during the winter after everyone leaves,” she said. “We want our neighborhoods to stay neighborhoods.”  

Foote Notes

Haven't heard much of that violation of property rights talk, Carol?  More Regulations are good?  Whenever the topic of short term rentals (STRs) come up in Ludington come up in conversation or on social media, there are a lot of folks defending those rights and angry at the over-regulation.  There are classes of people that may be offended by STRs and may come strongly out against them, but these always seem to have a vested self-interest in doing so. 

Those hoteliers in the Sault Area, like the Ludington area, have to pay the room tax for each guest while STRs can ignore them; they hate the prospect that the STRs will get a pass even if the CVB has no duty or reason to market the STRs.   The hoteliers have voted this room tax burden on themselves, so have no pity for that argument.  Bed & Breakfast owners also get their feathers ruffled over STRs, primarily because they are forced to inhabit the special STR known as their B&B and follow more strict rules to get their money from tenants.  They all view STRs as competition with a perceived advantage, so it's logical they wouldn't want them around.  

Short-term rentals aren’t allowed at all in Ludington, Carol?  Maybe you should read the zoning laws you supposedly administer.  The first is a section that notes STRs are permitted in condo units if approved during its development, it also allows them as a special land use.  

There are also several units grandfathered in as STRs, that were operational at the time where control-issued Ludington leaders decided against a person owning a residential unit temporarily loaning it out as a residential unit.  

Short-term rentals are empty during the rest of the year. And that’s not a good thing in residential areas, Carol?   That's a faulty generalization, which totally blocks out several reasons why some may wish to engage in the STR business.  Some people may need to work elsewhere during the summer or go on vacation for a time and may want to earn a little extra money on the side.  Some may reside in a second rustic home in rural Mason County during the summer and use their City home during the cold months and choose to make a STR.  A person may need to go help an aged parent elsewhere for an extended time and want somebody to stay at their own home for security, and to recoup lost wages.  There are many potential reasons for a STR to come into being and not be abandoned after the tourist season.

We really don’t want dark neighborhoods during the winter after everyone leaves, Carol?  First off, thanks for speaking for everyone, even though you don't need to since you are not an elected official.  Have you seen Epworth Heights in the winter, it's pretty dark even without STRs, as are a lot of the Bed & Breakfast district buildings.  It could be argued that a homeowner will be a lot more able to afford the added costs of winter if they bring in more money during the summer through STRs. 

With STRs you are pretty much guaranteed more local occupancy in the tourist season, and while there may possibly be some regular rental units taken off the market, it will not wreak the havoc that the rental inspection ordinance did on the rental housing market.  The City of Ludington plans on shoving those displaced people in taxpayer-subsidized units in the bowling alley block and the Depot development anyhow, except that almost all have moved out of the city already.

[Willy]

Zaria is not a good reporter. It's hard to tell where one person's comments begin and another's ends. As far as Foote goes it shows, again, how much City leaders know and how much they lack keeping in touch with the people. The citizens should vote on whether to allow part time rental or not and if there should be a rental inspection program. The only thing Ludington citizens can vote on, it seems, is who gets elected to City Council and even that has not been the case with  many of the Councilors who have served these past years. Most folks don't realize that zoning and planning administrators can make life very unpleasant for the common citizen because their interpretations and enforcement of codes can by skewed.

[Freedom Seeker]

Good find on the article, X, and I agree, Willy. It's not the first time I've heard personal bias from Carol Foot. She's way more opinionated than the unelected position should allow, and full of misinformation and skew. Some of these staff live outside of City limits, and it seems they just bide their time until they can collect their pensions. They are removed from the people and don't go to city council meetings to know the real pulse of what citizens want.

[stump]

It would seem that the city would want short term rentals as the people come to visit our area. Some have a larger family that just won't work out with a motel room. A house is more convenient in many ways.  Some come for business , some come for vacations and others come to check out the area for investment or moving to. I would think for the rent paid that these rentals get they are not going to get the ya hoo's  that cause problems that monthly rentals have.  Flimsy excuse of dark neighbor hoods for short term rentals . Lets see, a well kept home , never seen a shack for a shot term rental,  maybe shut down during the winter, people do come to Ludington in the winter don't they ? or a shabby  house in your neighbor hood that nobody except trash would live in.  They probably will be dark also because they didn't pay the light bill, no heat, pipes froze and they skipped out on the rent .  Your choice 

[Sharon]

I am so happy to see this being discussed here. I read that there is a meeting this Saturday to discuss short term rentals for properties in the "downtown" district. I am very curious what the property owners and citizens of Ludington think about this idea. I have selfish motives, but I am a huge proponent for short-term rentals everywhere but Ludington especially. I do not live there year round but I do own a house there. I see it as such an opportunity for local owners and cannot see why they would limit the opportunity to only the "downtown" area. I know someone was trying to get it through but it should be for everyone. 

Ludington seems to attract summer tourists of all kinds but seems like many for family reunions and weddings. Being able to rent houses would bring more of this kind of business. When in peoples lives do they "let go" of large amounts of money? Weddings and vacations...Many people that live near colleges rent out their houses on weekends to people attending games. Point being, it is a business opportunity for everyone. All municipalities are having to deal with this issue. I have seen it spawn investment and real attention to properties that have needed it. Seems like everyone would go visit someone for a week or so and let someone else pay for some of the expenses of owning a house. Would love to hear what people are thinking about it.