The Auburn Family loves nothing more than good competition and a place that feels like home. With the Iron Bowl coming up, places to stay are filling up faster than before because of Auburn City Council's new regulations for short-term rentals.
Auburn ordinances on short-term rentals from 1999 were updated in 2018. Citizens of Auburn voiced their concerns to the City Council and action was taken about short-term rentals.
The ordinance on short-term rentals states that an investment property that is not allowed to be rented out for more than 240 days a year and no more than 30 consecutive days at a time.
The community posted signs that say, “Don’t hotel our neighborhoods” as a response to short-term rentals. Short term rentals are now not allowed in areas zoned as neighborhood conservation.
Ward 2 Council member Kelley Griswold expressed his support for the current ordinance.
“I personally fully supported the change," Griswold said. "I think it's a good thing and it's a good thing because it responds to what the people who actually reside here wanted to happen."
The City Council recognizes that rentals are needed for events. The zoning of neighborhood conservation has allowed for it to still occur under regulations.
“The Iron Bowl is going to be a tremendous draw as in any of the big games," Griswold said. "There are other things in Auburn that bring people in on a short-term basis as well, whether it be softball tournament or graduation but it is still available if they want to do that, you just have to do it in the zones that it is permitted."
Other citizens feel that the current ordinances need to be revised for various reasons.
In June, Ward 5 City Council member Steven Dixon sued the City of Auburn over the zoning ordinances concerning short-term rentals.
“It has a lot of different things to it that help the economy here in Auburn," Dixon said. "One, it's helping people that could use some extra money, renting a bedroom or renting their house out or whatever way they choose to rent their property. And then additionally, you have to keep the property maintained.
Dixon expressed how many Auburn citizens depend on short-term rentals.
"I generally hire landscapers to keep up the yard and I hire someone to clean the house before and after. It's not just impacting the person that owns it," Dixon said "It's impacting the livelihoods of other people that make money through rental properties. You can look at the greater impact of the economy, that it's a huge part of the economy here. Then you also have the people that are renting, they're coming in and they're spending tax dollars in the city. They're buying gas here, they're buying their groceries, they're going out to restaurants. There are lots of benefits from having people come”.
Loss of income concerns were brought up by citizens when the zones were created. As a growing town, Auburn has started to attract more rental demands other than on game day weekends which has increased the interest in short-term rentals.
While action was taken for citizen's complaints about short term rentals, it was a problem that was not studied but instead just talked about according to Dixon.
“The mayor created a task force set up called the Short Term Rental Task Force," Dixon said. "And all of those people that were there didn't really do any work. They basically sat around the table and talked about their own ideas, of what they think or what they think short term rental is and how it's impacting people, but there was no real study done. They didn't look into any kind of data for the city."
Many citizens feel as if this issue was rushed into. With football season and a big game coming up, disputes about short term rentals are rising again.
Places to rent still exist in Auburn, however, Dixon has seen people begin to rent homes in Columbus, Georgia, an hour away from Auburn, because of the restrictions and limitations the ordinances have caused.
“People were having to stay in Columbus, Georgia," Dixon said "Because there weren't enough homes or not enough properties for people to rent. So people were spending their tax dollars in Columbus, Georgia versus here."
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November 28, 2021 at 12:40AM
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Game days stoke debate over short term rentals - The Auburn Plainsman
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