INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — While the City of Vero Beach has voted for a tenfold increase in fines as a way of deterring short-term vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods, the Board of County Commissioners thinks it can discourage transient rentals in unincorporated areas of the county by regulating them like any other business.
The first measure on tap for the County in May has been one that’s been talked about since January – an ordinance change to control the parking issues that often irk neighbors.
Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said he brought forth the parking issue because “we’re kind-of approaching this elephant one bite at a time.”
In response to requests to address multiple aspects of the short-term rental problem at once, O’Bryan said, “I think on the (May) 5th, I’d like to get the parking thing done and organized.”
While the issue of vacation rentals has been hotly debated over the past two years in the City of Vero Beach, the unincorporated county areas seemed to escape the controversy until residents near Round Island Park and in Ambersand Beach on the north barrier island began to speak up.
Then after a group of youthful renters from Miami-Dade went on a widely publicized “crime spree” in Central Beach in January, vacation rentals landed on the commissioners’ agenda again.
Commissioner Joe Flescher raised concerns that the code change should not keep homeowners from hosting a Super Bowl party, Christmas party or a back-yard wedding with dozens of guests.
He said he wants to make sure that, whatever restrictions the county implements, that it targets the real problem and doesn’t infringe on the rights of law abiding citizens.
Chairman Wesley Davis has tossed out some ideas for further bringing vacation rentals into compliance with other commercial entities, even perhaps by taxing them as commercial property.
Other avenues discussed include imposing commercial fire codes, or looking into how the county might curb the popular practice of renting large single-family homes out as event halls for weddings or family reunions.
Commissioner Tim Zorc said short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods “have an unfair advantage versus bed and breakfasts who have gone through all the requirements – the zoning, the Americans with Disabilities Act, licensing and inspection,” Zorc said. “It’s not just the beach, there are several pockets of them on the mainland as well.”
The final draft of the proposed parking ordinance was due out Thursday in the commission’s agenda packet.
