HAMPTON, Va. — Applicants for permits to be able to use their property for short-term rentals in Hampton are going to have to wait a while after Hampton City Council opted to put the brakes on allowing more such usage in the city until they can gain a better understanding of the impact of short term rentals on neighborhoods.
They deferred voting on five applications at last week's council meeting until November. They said they want to allow time for staff research and also so they can talk to more members of the Hampton community.
"Before the City Council began considering short-term rental use permits, we convened a stakeholder group to provide the council with recommendations about how to best regulate short-term rentals,” Tuck said.
“That stakeholder group included Neighborhood Commission members, a bed-and-breakfast operator, a hotel operator, and short-term rental operators," he continued.
"The group provided the Council with recommended conditions for short-term rentals. However, since the Council began holding public hearings regarding specific use applications, we’ve heard from many other community members about anticipated impacts to their neighborhoods stemming from the use.”
Many cities have struggled with how to regulate short-term rentals - a market that includes such national providers as Airbnb and Vrbo - and balance the rights of property owners with those of other neighborhood residents who don't want to see nearby residences used for commercial purposes.
A spokesperson said the city's staff was already in the process of working on the question of how many short-term rentals there should be in a given area. Now they will also look at the neighborhoods themselves and what areas of the city make the most sense to contain short-term rentals.
Pausing the issuing of short-term rental permits "will allow time for us to receive legal guidance from the city attorney’s office, consider our options to regulate density and appropriate areas for short-term rentals, and to engage with the public considering a proposed path forward without acting on any new use permits,” said Mayor Tuck.
