Columbus City Council approved rules on short-term rentals on Tuesday that differed from what the city’s planning commission recommended.
The council voted 5-0 to allow short-term rentals, such as those listed on Airbnb and VRBO, to operate in all but one zoning district within the city, as long as owners get planning commission approval. The only prohibited zone is C-1 Restricted, zoned for professional offices such as medical and law practices, meaning a homeowner in an R-1 zone (single-family residential) can operate a short-term rental with commission approval and a privilege license.
The city has been struggling with how to govern Airbnb rentals for several weeks. Neighbors of an Airbnb rental on Azalea Drive complained to the planning commission, resulting in that rental being shut down due to it violating neighborhood covenants in the Northaven Woods subdivision. However, other issues came up during that debate, so the council tabled discussion at its March 1 meeting.
While the council did define a short-term rental as being occupied by the same tenant for less than 30 days, City Attorney Jeff Turnage said at a Wednesday press conference that its other actions were “quite a departure” from planning commission recommendations. The commission wanted to prohibit short-term rentals in R-1 zones and allow property owners in most commercial districts to operate short-term rentals “by right” — by obtaining a privilege license but not needing to seek further city approval.
The council did not agree with the R-1 restriction, nor did it approve short-term rentals in any zone “by right.”
“I hate telling people what to do with their property,” Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones, who moved to approve the rules Tuesday, told The Dispatch.
“Last time it was in the covenant that they couldn’t do that, which is why I voted (against the Azalea Drive Airbnb). But I think you have to look at what’s the best use for each individual property.”
Turnage said Wednesday when operators contact the planning commission for permission, the commission will notify surrounding property owners within 160 feet of the proposed Airbnb to allow them the opportunity to object.
The council will likely go along with whatever recommendation the planning commission presents, Turnage said. If turned down, operators can appeal the decision to Lowndes County Circuit Court.
Existing Airbnbs “will (also) have to get a business license and apply to the planning commission for approval,” Turnage said. “I don’t anticipate a lot of neighbors will have as many complaints as what you had in Northaven Woods, but I don’t know.”
Jones said he wanted it to be possible for people to fix up properties that might otherwise just sit there and turn them into Airbnb rentals.
“It could end up looking really nice, and then it actually adds to the neighborhood,” he said. “So why not?… I’m for anything that’s going to improve a neighborhood.”
Jones said he didn’t think the city could control what went on in a property, whether it was short-term rental or long-term.
“At the end of the day, that needs to be controlled by the law,” Jones said. “If you have a problem with parking on the road, call the police. If they’re having parties, you call the police and let them handle the parties. It’s no different than somebody renting a house long-term having a party.”
CFO interviews underway
Interviews are underway with the top six candidates for chief financial officer, Gaskin said at his press conference Wednesday morning.
The city had originally advertised for CFO candidates at the same time as chief operations officer and information technology director. The hiring committee — Gaskin, Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell, Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart, Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene, Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco — eventually tossed out that round of applicants after the frontrunner for the position withdrew from consideration.
At a Feb. 4 special meeting, the council voted to re-advertise for the position, as well as raising the salary up to $100,000. The application period for this round closed Feb. 22. Mitchell told The Dispatch Wednesday afternoon that 41 total applications had been received, of which 22 met the basic requirement of having an accounting degree from an accredited four-year university.
Mitchell said three of the 44 who applied the first time applied again.
The committee winnowed the viable candidates down to six front-runners. Two candidates were interviewed by Zoom Wednesday morning, she said, and more interviews will be conducted today.
After that round of interviews is complete, the committee will narrow the six down to a top three, Gaskin said. They will be called in for personal interviews.
“We have very strong candidates,” Gaskin said. “I think increasing the salary has helped.”
Gaskin wouldn’t commit to holding interviews in public, or say when or if names of candidates would be released to the public.
“That’s a tough road we walk there,” he said. “We want to be as transparent as possible, but we also want to be protective of the people applying for these positions because they are all employed somewhere else. … We will work with the candidates to get their comfort level to where we can release their names.”
Names were never released to the public during the COO search. Eventual COO hire Jammie Garrett’s name became public when Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens moved to hire her in open session during the council’s regular Feb. 1 meeting.
That motion failed, and Garrett wasn’t officially hired until a special-call meeting Feb. 4.
Drainage survey tabled
Tuesday night City Engineer Kevin Stafford floated a drainage rehabilitation survey to identify where the worst localized flooding issues were, but the request was tabled, with Mayor Keith Gaskin breaking a tie to do so.
In the wake of a drainage-centric Feb. 24 work session, the council asked Stafford to pull together a proposal for how much it would cost to outsource ditch-cleaning to private contractors to take some of the load off of Public Works, which is short both manpower and equipment. He said then that “65 to 70 percent of the issues” were caused by lack of maintenance.
Stafford came back Tuesday night with a wide-ranging $261,400 plan to assess and map drainage issues across the city, which could then be put out to bid individually. Part of the plan called for using Geographic Information System mapping to both document the issues, pre- and post-remediation conditions, and also set up a system of timers to make sure they were maintained as needed.
“We will map the system out, identify the problem areas and put together a plan of action for cleaning, and also put it out for bid,” Stafford said. “At any point in time Public Works could assist with oversight, because they know those ditches and work with them every day.”
Stafford said he could not estimate the cost of the work itself until an assessment was done.
The council briefly discussed using American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for the study. The city, however, has contracted with Waggoner Engineering to advise on ARPA projects.
On that note, Mickens moved to table the request, seconded by DiCicco.
“It seems like this is crossing hairs with what we’ve got going on with Waggoner,” Mickens said. “I’d like to research that little further before we make a decision on that.”
Jones disagreed and wanted to move ahead.
“This is long overdue, and we should know every ditch and when it has been cleaned,” Jones said. “We really need to map this out, whether we have money to do all the work is another story. But this right here I think has to be done at some point.”
Mickens remained unconvinced.
“I’m not saying it’s not a good idea,” Mickens said. “We got Waggoner and Neel-Schaffer, and we need to decide which direction we’re going here. We don’t need to be paying both of them to do the same thing.”
“We’re paying Waggoner to do the assessment of where to spend the money,” Jones replied. “Not to do this or anything else.”
The vote tied, with Stewart, Mickens and DiCicco voting to table and Greene, Beard and Jones opposed. Gaskin broke the tie in favor of tabling.
Wednesday Gaskin said he thought the project was worthwhile.
“Absolutely it’s worthwhile,” he said. “…(Stafford) has no problem working with Waggoner to benefit the city…But I do want to make sure we don’t move so quickly that we don’t know how this compares to what we’re doing with Waggoner.”
The cost of cleaning up those ditches could eat up the $3 million in ARPA money the city has set aside for drainage work, he said.
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