Commissioners to decide on short-term rentals

CELINA - Mercer County commissioners will decide whether to restrict short-term rentals of properties in Eastern Jefferson Township following action taken this week by county zoning commissioners.

The proposed zoning amendment was forwarded to county commissioners on Wednesday, almost a year after a group of homeowners first publicly opposed the short-term rental of homes through online services such as VRBO and Airbnb.

It also comes as state GOP lawmakers have proposed legislation that would prohibit villages, cities and other local governments from banning short-term rentals in their communities.

The county zoning commission regulates only East Jefferson Township because it is the only township in the county that more than 40 years ago voted to be governed by them.

Zoning commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to prohibit short-term rentals in low-density residential R-1 zoned areas, but allow short-term rentals under conditional use in medium-density residential R-2 and high-density residential R-3 zoned areas of the township.

A short-term rental would be defined as any dwelling or part of a dwelling, including the real property on which it is located, that is rented for a fee, for any period of less than 30 days within a 12-month period.

Under zoning commissioners' recommendation, short-term rentals would be permitted as a conditional use in R-2 and R-3 areas given that specific conditions or requirements are met and that the proposed conditional use will not adversely effect surrounding properties.

Property owners would have to meet a host of specific requirements, including showing proof of inspection by the county health department and the Celina Fire Department; proof of working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors; proof of having one vehicle parking space for two adult short-term rental guests; proof of providing right-of-entry to the county sheriff, Celina Fire Department, county health department, and county zoning inspector; and proof of good standing with the county treasurer and county sanitary department, if the sanitary department provides services to the dwelling. Property owners also would have to provide the name, email address and telephone number for a person who would have total responsibility for the short-term rental dwelling and be available on an annual, daily, 24-hour basis.

County commissioners on Thursday had no comment on the zoning amendment. They must now schedule a public hearing no more than 30 days from Wednesday, according to the county zoning code

As of Thursday morning commissioners were still considering dates, times and locations for the public hearing as a courthouse elevator project, poll worker training and other activities present scheduling difficulties. Within 20 days of the public hearing, county commissioners would either adopt, deny or modify the zoning commission's recommendation. County commissioners would have to cast a unanimous vote to either deny or modify the request, according to the zoning code. Whichever way they vote, their ruling would be subject to a voter referendum by electors in part of East Jefferson Township.

Zoning commissioners held five public hearings in 2021 and 2022 that were often contentious and marked by impassioned arguments in support of and against allowing homes to be rented out for short periods.

Some people who have lived for many years in their homes in East Jefferson Township said they don't want to live next to properties that have a revolving door of transient occupants. They had cited alleged incidents of trespassing on private property, excessive noise, trash in their yards and other nuisances caused by transient renters.

Zoning commissioners also heard from those who had purchased homes in the area as investment properties expressly for short-term rentals. These people argued restricting the use of their homes would amount to a violation of their property rights.

Still, some attendees said short-term rentals make sense but not in an R-1 area.

Also, Mercer County Health District Health Commissioner Jason Menchhofer issued a Feb. 9 letter about the proposed zoning amendment, writing that no local or state regulation grants the health district the authority to perform an interior inspection of a dwelling unless a public health nuisance originating within the dwelling is spreading to the outside.

Moreover, the health district's health commissioner and registered environmental health specialists already have broad general powers that allow for enforcement of the district's current property maintenance code, Menchhofer wrote. He asked zoning commissioners to remove the inspection requirement and right-of-entry provisions from the proposed zoning amendment.

Should those two provisions stay in place, the board of health would request additional details regarding the extent and frequency of the proposed inspection requirement, he wrote.

"Adoption of any changes or additions to the existing property maintenance code would take several months; therefore advance communication of any proposed zoning code changes affecting MCHD regulations is critical," Menchhofer wrote in the letter.

In response, Menchhofer was informed by the county zoning commission MCHD "was not being required to conduct inspection of a proposed short term rental property, but the obligation was on the person applying for a conditional use permit to the zoning board of appeals to ask the health department to review the property as part of a conditional use application," the zoning commission meeting minutes from Tuesday read.

Menchhofer reportedly later responded that the health board had not changed its position as laid out in the Feb. 9 letter.

The two provisions in question, however, appeared in the proposed zoning amendment sent to county commissioners on Wednesday.

Zoning commissioners this week also discussed House Bill 563 which centers on short-term rental properties and its potential implications on the proposed zoning amendment.

"That bill, in its present form, would not allow counties, townships or municipalities to prohibit short term rentals but would allow their 'regulation,'" the minutes read. "The boundaries of allowable 'regulation' is unknown (with) the House bill being in its first commitee hearing."

The proposed zoning amendment also went before county regional planning commission for comment on Feb. 16, as required by the zoning code. Planning commissioners moved to pass along specific comments made by Menchhofer in his letter to zoning commissioners. They also recommended zoning commissioners "further review of the inspections made by the fire department."

County assistant prosecutor Andy Hinders at this week's zoning commission reported that Celina Fire Chief Doug Wolters, whose department provides fire protection to Jefferson Township, "stated that it would not be a problem for his department to conduct fire inspections of proposed short term rental applications if the number of applicants was not excessive."

- The Associated Press contributed to this story.