Changes coming to Sarasota's vacation rental ordinance

Seventeen months removed from implementing the city’s vacation rental ordinance citywide, staff has identified 14 points of clarification and alteration, all unanimously approved on July 21 by the Sarasota City Commission.

It surprised commissioners the term citywide doesn’t really mean citywide, as neighborhoods in multi-use zone districts were exempt from the registration and regulation ordinance. That's because it was drafted to mirror the May 2021 legislation — which included only the barrier islands — that applied to zone districts that include uses other than residences of up to four units per lot. 

“A year later, staff has identified some amendments to improve ordinance clarity, to enhance safety for renters and security, to support more accurate advertising and to refine our administrative processes,” Vacation Rental Compliance Supervisor Hannah Chabica told commissioners. “It aims to incorporate the amendments in the best interest of the public health safety and welfare and to ensure residents peaceful enjoyment of their homes, to protect the health and safety of vacation rental tenants and to encourage them to be respectful of neighborhood residents.”

That is all well and good for the neighborhoods to which it applies, but Gillespie Park Neighborhood Association President Kelly Brown said the law doesn’t go far enough to protect downtown-adjacent neighborhoods in zone districts with a mix of residential, multi-family and commercial uses. Vacation rentals, she told commissioners, are springing up all over her neighborhood, and for good reason.

“Wouldn't you rather stay in a house with a pool and have a party and do whatever you want?” Brown asked rhetorically, striking a contrast between vacation rentals close to downtown and nearby hotels. “When I moved to the city in 2017 there were two Airbnbs (in Gillespie Park). There are now 14 on my street alone. The continual disregard for the seven-day rule is a constant in our neighborhood. It's two days. It's weekends. My request of the commission today is, please include all neighborhoods in this ordinance.”

Retired City Attorney Robert Fournier, who drafted all of the city’s vacation rental ordinances, advised commissioners they shouldn’t attempt to make that inclusion at Monday’s meeting, suggesting they instruct staff to craft a report on the matter by the end of the year. 

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Fournier said there may be a way to carve single-family neighborhoods out of mixed-use zone districts, but as it stands today the ordinance is zone district-based.

“I thought citywide meant citywide, which I'm discovering doesn't mean citywide,” said Vice Mayor Debbie Trice, who made the unanimously approved motion to instruct staff to explore a neighborhood-specific amendment. “One of my concerns is that one of our objectives was to protect the health and safety of people who are renting these homes, and if we don't include the other neighborhoods we are also ignoring their needs.”

The vacation rental ordinance currently applies to all single-, two-, three- and four-family dwellings located in residential single- and multi-family zone districts. The ordinance does not apply to homes located in Downtown Edge and Downtown Neighborhood districts and those are not required to register with the city because they are mixed-use zones.