Like many communities in Northern Michigan, short-term rentals are a hot-button issue in East Bay, as more homes are being used for in that manner.
East Bay Charter Township Supervisor and Chairperson Beth Friend said that leaves less housing for locals who are trying to find a place to live in East Bay Charter Township, which is minutes from Traverse City.
“A couple different things that people have seen across the country with short-term rentals, you know, is inflating the prices of homes and some of the density of short-term rentals compared to long-term rentals or year-round homes, those types of issues,” said Friend.
The township said after a yearlong process, they voted to update their short-term rental ordinance that was adopted in 2019 to address these issues.
The first two changes will address future short-term rentals. It includes a cap on the amount of licenses permitted to 145, which is 35 fewer than what the township currently has.
Claire Karner, the director of planning and zoning for the township, also said there are no more licenses available right now.
“Property owners will not have the opportunity to pursue a short-term rental license until we fall below that cap, and we’ll fall below that cap through attrition as people decide not to renew their short-term rental license, " said Karner.
Karner said the second change is that no new licenses will be issued unless that home is more than 1,000 feet away from another short-term rental.
“The purpose is to not have clustering of short-term rentals,” said Karner.
Karner said the last change involved changing the turnover rate from once every four nights to once every seven.
“So you can’t have somebody come in, rent for two nights and then turn over and have another guest come in for another two nights,” said Karner.
Friend said she voted in favor of the changes.
“I voted for it, I do think that short-term rentals should have an avenue to exist. They are going to exist. They were before they were even allowed in the township, so having some criteria in place that they have to adhere to is important,” said Friend.
The vote to make the amendments to the ordinance didn’t pass unanimously. One board member, Matt Cook, voted against it. Cook said via email that he opposed the seven-day minimum on turnover. He said he supported the other changes but didn’t think the burden of enforcing length of stay to seven days would be easy or appropriate.
