MUSKEGON, MI – The current freeze on new short-term rental applications in Muskegon will remain in place for another 30 days.
During a meeting on Tuesday, August 27, the Muskegon City Commission voted 5-1 to extend the moratorium for another 30 days after its expiration on September 8.
The deadline now expires on October 8. New rules are currently being discussed and the Commission is expected to vote on them and take a decision before the extension expires.
Commissioners will further discuss the issue at their next joint work session and commission meeting on September 9, and the public – including short-term rental owners – is invited to provide feedback.
City staff have expressed support for an overlay district that would limit the number of short-term rental apartments in an area based on the total number of apartments present in that area. The city is divided into 11 different zones based on U.S. census tracts.
City Manager Jonathan Seyferth says studies have shown that when the number of short-term rental units exceeds 5 percent of the housing stock, it has a negative impact on neighborhoods. He recommends that the number of short-term rental units in each area should only be 4 percent of the housing stock.
The staff would also like to recommend:
- No property (except commercial properties) may have more than two short-term rental buildings adjacent to it.
- The city maintains that short-term rental licenses are non-transferable.
- The city allows a 30-day grace period for renewing short-term rental applications after the deadline, subject to a fine. Existing rental properties in restricted zones can still be re-registered as long as they are still owned by the same owner.
Commissioner and Vice Mayor Rebecca St. Clair said she has received the “most sustained feedback” from residents over weeks, months and years on the issue of short-term rentals.
“People on both sides have very strong feelings about this and I want to respect everyone’s needs,” St. Clair said. “I think if we take the time to do it right, we show people that we are listening and we respect competing interests.”
Key points of contention within the commission include the possibility of allowing the transferability of short-term rental licenses and carving out Lakeside and the Downtown Development Authority’s business district as short-term rental districts.
Commissioners St. Clair and Destinee Keener expressed concern about the first-come, first-served application process for residential areas already located in areas delimited under the 4 percent limit.
“I would like to see consideration given to people who don’t have one or two or 10 Airbnbs in the community,” St. Clair said during Tuesday’s meeting. “When we talk about this being a business opportunity, I want it to be distributed fairly.”
Commissioner Jay Kilgo was the only commissioner to vote against the 30-day extension on Tuesday, and Commissioner Katrina Kochin was absent from the vote.
Real estate agent Kilgo said he was not in favor of continuing the moratorium because of the impact it would have on the real estate market.
“Believe it or not, these pauses have impacted the entire market in our community,” Kilgo said. “There are some people who are hesitant to buy homes right now for many different reasons, this is not the only one… I really think we need to get our rules and regulations in place as soon as possible.”
Since the six-month moratorium began in March, Muskegon staff and officials have been considering how to handle short-term rentals.
The resolution calling for a suspension cited concerns about a decrease in the number of long-term residents, a reduced supply of long-term housing and a corresponding increase in prices for these, and an increase in noise and traffic levels during the summer season.
These and other topics were recently discussed at a working session of the city commission.
There are a total of 232 registered short-term rental units in Muskegon, spread across 190 different buildings, as some buildings contain multiple units.
The neighborhoods with the most short-term rentals are currently Beachwood-Bluffton with a total of 76 and Lakeside/West Glenside with 81.
Seyferth said the majority of complaint calls come from the Beachwood-Bluffton neighborhood and include complaints about noise, parking, parties and trash.
The beach district has a total of 861 residential units, so the number of short-term rentals accounts for about 9% of the total number of apartments.
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