We are nearing the end of the process of permitting short term rentals in Holiday Island. To date, 93 permits have been issued for condos, townhouses and single-family residences, plus one issued to Table Rock Landing Timeshares. There are two pending a public hearing to be held this month yet. There may be a couple more that for one reason or another have not applied for a conditional use permit even though the deadline to do so without penalty was July 1st. There are between 1500 and 1600 residences in Holiday Island so 6% to 7% of the residences are permitted as short-term rentals.
We are now about half way through the typical vacation season having already celebrated two of the three summer holidays. Now would be a good time to test the water as to how the short-term rental business, sometimes called Air B&B’s or VRBO’s, is impacting our community. I can say that Code Enforcement has only had to respond to two issues. Both had to do with overflowing trash cans. Given that the residents of Holiday Island are famous for not being timid about making problems known, I would have to assume that there have not been many serious issues. If there have been, or if you experience problems going forward, please contact the Code Enforcement Officer (click HERE for his contact information). The primary benefit of permitting these rentals is that we have contact names and phone numbers of the local managers of the properties. To date, the owners have been very cooperative in dealing with problems.
Vacation rentals have always been a part of the Holiday Island economy. I am very certain that our local businesses are benefiting from the tourism. And there is evidence that the ability of people to vacation in Holiday Island and experience the community has led to home residence purchases in Holiday Island. I don’t have any statistics as to how much the vacation rental market has grown here over the past couple of years, but I am sure it has grown some. I do feel though that the conversion of private residence to short-term rental is slowing. In the first half of this year there were 73 home sales, of which 6 are known to be purchased as a short-term rental property and have likely already been permitted as such. So, most people are still buying here to live here. And most homes are still selling in under 30 days. Year to date, we have issued 20 building permits--six of which were for new homes. We are a growing vibrant community and if we do things right, it will remain the great place that people hoped it would be. So, keep us posted if and when we need to take action on a problem.
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