During a meeting Tuesday, the Muskegon City Commission voted 5-1 to extend the moratorium on short-term rentals for another 30 days, giving the commission until October 8th to further discuss the issue.
“Believe it or not, these pauses have affected the market as a whole in our community.”
Commissioner Jay Kilgo was the only commissioner to vote no on the extension.
“There’s currently 435 properties available for sale in Muskegon County and there are some people that are hesitant to buy houses right now. Lots of different reasons; this is not the only one, the moratorium, but I really think that we need to get our rules and regulations in place ASAP.”
Areas of disagreement among commission members include allowing short-term rental licenses to be transferable, as well as concern over the first-come, first-serve application process for residential areas that are already capped, according to the 4% limit.
Vice Mayor and Commissioner Rebecca St. Clair expressed concern over the number of short-term rentals owned by a select few.
“I would like to see some consideration done for folks that don’t already have one or two or ten Airbnb’s in the community. If we’re talking about really wanting this to be a business opportunity, I would like it to be distributed in an equitable way.”
Commissioners plan on discussing the issue further at their next meeting and work session on September 9th. The public is invited to give feedback at that time.
