There will be no new short-term rental properties approved in residential zones in New Buffalo for the next year as the city studies the issue. City Manager Darwin Watson tells us there is currently a moratorium on short-term rentals that was enacted last year and will expire December 13. The council last week decided there should be no approvals given for short term rentals in R1, R2, and R3 zones for a year while city staff draw up a study for the planning commission.
“The city will look at how saturated and how dense the properties are in those districts, and then the city staff is, by the ordinance, required to make a report to the planning commission, who can then make recommendations to the city council if there is the ability to open up short-term rentals in those three districts,” Watson said.
Watson says new short-term rentals could be approved in commercial and other districts in the meantime. The concern is what effect having a large number of vacation rental homes has on the community.
“The council’s main focus was to protect the integrity of the residential districts within its corporate limits.”
The city council’s action last week attracted the attention of news media in Chicago and Detroit. That’s as legislation limiting local control of vacation rentals is being considered in Lansing.
