Despite community objections, Greensboro zoning commission votes to approve Airbnb ordinance

On March 1, roughly 50 people from Greensboro neighborhoods spoke at a special Zoning and Planning Commission meeting about a proposed ordinance “regulating” shortterm rentals like Airbnbs. City planning manager Mike Kirkman argued that the proposed ordinance tightens restrictions on such rentals in residential neighborhoods, the majority of the public speakers alleged it makes it easier for off-site investors, realtors, and corporations to buy neighborhood homes and turn them into “mini-hotels.”

This ordinance, the majority argued, will not decrease the diversity and quality of Greensboro neighborhoods, but instead, drive up long-term rents and drive out affordable housing.

“The social fabric that we worked so hard to create is being destroyed over the needs of commercial interests,” said speaker Kathe Latham. “Seniors, lowincome and young, and low-wage workers are finding it increasingly difficult to find adequate affordable housing. Increasingly, teachers, public workers, and workers in the service industries are unable to live in the cities where they work. The limited existing rental units and homes are being gobbled up by wealthy and institutional investors to create short-term rentals, driving up costs of housing overall.”

Around 30 speakers said that the ordinance as written would harm their communities by allowing people who did not live in their neighborhoods to rent out rooms or houses there. Several voiced their concern that this was being done to bring “tourists” to the Tanger Center, the Coliseum, and the proposed Friendly Market Music Hall by offering cheaper rates than downtown hotels. The majority of those speaking against the ordinance said they had no problem with their neighbors renting out space in their own homes, just as long as the owners continued to reside there.

Nine people who had signed up via Zoom either were unable to log on or had problems with their audio that prevented them from speaking. Eleven either spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance or called it too restrictive. Nine of these 11 acknowledged they were in the business of short-term rentals.

Real estate agent Peggy McGinty said she took pride in buying and fixing up dilapidated homes and turning them into short-term rentals. “My properties are kept up. The tenants seem to be respectful. We have soccer moms, we have swimming meets, people are coming to the Tanger Center and the Coliseum. One person comes twice a year and her mom lives two blocks away. She has a child with special needs and it’s such a blessing to her that she can walk to the home of her mom, who has cancer.”

Ashley Bell, who said she lives in College Hill but owns short-term rentals in High Point and Winston-Salem, argued that “the notion that Airbnbs will be unlimited is just inflammatory language by those who want to oppose short-term rentals; this new ordinance actually proposes increased requirements for short-term rental owners.”

President of the Dunleath Neighborhood Association David Wharton disagreed, and called the proposed ordinance “far weaker and vaguer” than those in Raleigh and Asheville. “Perhaps this is because the voices of regular residents were overwhelmed in the crafting of this ordinance. They were outnumbered seven to one by industry voices and city staff.”

Wharton was one of multiple speakers who called the currently-existing ordinance better than its proposed replacement. Those responsible for the proposed changes argue that the current ordinance has no provisions specifically for Airbnb-type rentals with offsite owners and managers as it only describes establishments in which the owner lives on-site.

Opponents of the proposed revisions responded that the better solution is to interpret the current ordinance to mean that only short-term rentals owned and operated by someone living on the property should be allowed in residential neighborhoods.

Despite the objections of the majority of speakers, the Zoning and Planning Board voted to unanimously accept the proposed ordinance as written. The ordinance will be passed on to City Council to vote on.

Before the vote, Zoning and Planning Chair Sandra O’Connor asked Kirkman to respond to those who alleged “there wasn’t a fair representation” on the committee that wrote the proposed ordinance.

“It was a broad variety of perspectives,” said Kirkman, who noted that it included Mike Pendergraft, “a member of the Greensboro Neighborhood Con - gress which represents many neighborhoods within the city.”

On Thursday, about a dozen community members who had spoken against the proposed ordinance met with Mayor Nancy Vaughan and District 3 representative Zack Matheny at First Presbyterian Church. These included Pendergraft, who is not in favor of the ordinance in its present form, and disagreed with Kirkman’s claim that the committee Pendergraft served on was “diverse.”

So did Kathe Latham, who called the committee “mostly realtors and attorneys for realtors.”

The City of Greensboro website describes the committee as a “group of short-term rental operators, neighborhood representatives, local land use attorneys, and representatives of the Realtors, builders and convention/visitors associations [that] has consulted with the City on the issue for many months.” But the 14 names listed there include only two “neighborhood representatives,” Pendergraft and “Phil Smit” (which may be a typo for Phil Smith). It also lists the following names, several misspelled, with italicized descriptions: Amanda Hodierne - Land Use Attorney/TREBIC representative ; James Watterson - Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau ; Mary Ben Roac -

Greensboro Realtors Association [typo for realtor and broker Mary Ben Roach of Burgess Management Group]; Daniel Coffe [a typo for Coffey] - Tourist Home/ Short Term Rental Operator ; Irish Spells - Tourist Home/Short Term Rental Operator ; Megan Weathersbee - Guilford Motel Association ; Adam Marshall - Attorney - Homeowners Associations ; Nancy Vaughan - City Mayor ; Sue Schwartz - City Planning Director ; Al Andrews - City Legal ; Allen Buans [Buansi] - City Legal ; Steve Brumagin - City Zoning Enforcement .

The Thursday meeting with Vaughan and Matheny was arranged by Cheryl Pratt, who the night before had read aloud the following statement:

“A non-owner occupied short-term rental is no longer a residential home and should not be considered as such if no one actually resides there. It is a structure being utilized as a mini-hotel, a business, and is a change of use without neighborhood input or approval.”

On Thursday, March 2, Vaughan told Pratt, Pendergraft, Wharton, Latham, and the other members of their group that the proposed ordinance “is by no means allowing people to do something with the property that they were not already doing.”

“We had people come to us at Council who had negative experiences with short-term rentals in their neighborhood,” said Vaughan. “They asked us to address this, and that’s how the conversation started.”

Throughout the Thursday meeting, Matheny took notes and seemed responsive to complaints, while initially, Vaughan expressed disagreement with what she said were misconceptions by those in the room or others who had spoken the night before. “Contrary to statements, it has been a very open process.”

“My objection to the process is about who was on the committee,” replied Wharton, “not that it wasn’t transparent.” He alleged this was similar to what he experienced years earlier when serving on the committee that wrote the Land Development Ordinance.

“I was the only person who wasn’t a TREBIC member. I know it’s standard practice for cities that, when you write an ordinance like this, you invite mostly the people who benefit from it, and very few of the people who are harmed by it.”

“Think about zoning,” said Pratt. “Asheville has fought back against this problem, and so now they have a resortzoned district in the city that is the only area where non-owner-occupied short-term rentals can be, and in all the residential neighborhoods, they can only be owner-occupied. If they catch them in residential neighborhoods, they fine them $500 a night.”

Glenwood resident Liz Seymour mentioned properties in her neighborhood being bought up as short-term rentals for Coliseum patrons.

“And that’s a key problem,” said Pratt, “when you have somebody from Fisher Park targeting Glenwood, or someone from Sunset Hills targeting East Greensboro. It’s taking housing away from people who need it, who live here, who work here and sent their kids to school here.”

Matheny expressed some enthusiasm for the group’s suggestion of requiring both owners and operators/managers to be located within a 20-mile radius of the short-term rental property. He also indicated that the proposed ordinance might be tweaked to require nonowner-operated short-term rentals to be located no closer than 400 feet from each other.

Vaughan said “we’re going to go back and pitch these things, and figure out if we can do them, or give you a reason why we can’t. That’s our commitment to you.”

“The mayor and I can type something up and send it to the city attorney,” said Matheny, “and whatever we get in response, we can send it to Cheryl [Pratt], and she can forward it to y’all.”

“I need to see what you type up,” said District 1’s Sharon Hightower, who had joined the meeting on Zoom. “I am concerned about this, particularly as it related to Glenwood. Make sure I’m copied on that.”

Vaughan and Matheny said they hoped to incorporate some of the group’s suggestions and that the proposed ordinance would then be discussed and voted on at either the March 21st or April 4th City Council meeting.

Afterward, Pratt said she was disappointed by “how there seemed to be no knowledge by both the Planning and Zoning board and the City of the difference between owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied short-term rentals. Owner-occupied ones are great. It’s a way for homeowners to monetize their greatest investment, their homes. But the non-owner-occupied ones are basically hotels. That distinction has not been made enough. They are very different and need to be dealt with differently.” !

IAN MCDOWELL is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which he’s proud of and none of which he’s ashamed of.

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