“The biggest issue I see is the expectations of the owners of a single-family home in Liberty Twp.,” said Tom Farrell, newly elected president of the board of trustees.
“Liberty is a bedroom community. Our residents purchase a house in single-family residential neighborhoods and their expectations are that their neighbors will be single family residential as well, and not a hotel or daily rental,’’ Farrell said.
The township has seen an uptick in complaints about property that is being rented out for weddings and parties. In one case, Farrell said, renters had people sleeping in the front yard of a home.
“The volume (of what we’re seeing) is not what I would considering alarming – yet,’’ Farrell said. “We need to get a handle on it. We don’t need to panic. We need to gather data.”
Trustee Todd Minniear said the township has to balance the rights of property owners with those living near rental properties.
“This is a pause to see where it might make sense to allow (rentals) in the community,” Minniear said.
“We have to be very careful about infringing on people’s rights on their own property. We have to see where it makes sense and where it supports the community and doesn’t infringe on the lives of residents.”
During the next 180 days township staff will gather data from other Ohio communities on how they’re dealing with the issue. Staff will also look at the zoning code – which doesn’t address the matter – for any updates.
Those updates could include definitions and whether or not to allow short-term rentals. If they are permitted, where should they be permitted and what rules and regulations should be created.
The topic first came up two years ago and at that time township officials advised homeowner associations to ban the practice in their covenants. At the time the township was advised there wasn’t much more they could do.
Since then, the popularity and use of sites offering the rentals – such as Airbnb and VRBO – has increased and become an acceptable practice by the public.
Short-term rental listings in Butler County have grown 77 percent in the last two years, according to Tracy Kocher, executive director of Travel Butler County. There are about 817 listings county-wide.
When Farrell did a cursory search on two sites for the dates March 1-3, he found 24 listings in Liberty Tw., including nine in a one-mile radius.
Last fall West Chester Twp. imposed a six-month moratorium on short-term rentals. Fairfield updated its zoning resolution to define short-term rentals and specified where they could be located and related rules.
Both Hamilton and Oxford allow rentals. Fairfield Twp. only allows bed and breakfast facilities and vacation rentals in business district, banning short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods.
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