T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA St. Clairsville Planning and zoning administrator Tom Murphy asks council if it would be interested in setting some type of guidelines in place for short term rental properties

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Planning and zoning administrator Tom Murphy asked St. Clairsville City Council on Monday if it was interested in setting some type of guidelines in place for short term rental properties within the city.

Murphy said that he personally doesn’t have a preference on the matter, but was seeking input from council.

He added that the city does have guidelines put in place for bed and breakfasts but nothing for Airbnb- type properties.

“Many communities separate bed-and-breakfasts and Airbnbs because they are unique. One of them, you’re serving food. The other one, they’re not,” Murphy said. “Usually they look at parking spaces, like do they have enough parking so it doesn’t affect the neighborhood.”

He added that his only potential hang-up on putting guidelines in place would be that he doesn’t want the city to over-regulate its community, but wants to ensure the property’s neighbors are protected.

Council member Audry Brahler replied that she is currently converting a property into an Airbnb and said that the process is very rigorous.

“They are on it, as far as where this person parking and how are they getting it? What are they not allowed to do and things like that, it’s pretty well self regulated,” she said.

Council member Mike Smith said that he believes the city shouldn’t set up guidelines unless an issue arises.

Murphy said he is currently only aware of two Airbnb properties within the city’s limits and has never experienced any issues with either property.

Council member Kristi Lipscomb acknowledged that her opinion may not be a popular opinion, but believes that the city should enact some type of guidelines for long-term rental properties.

“I wish that we had a little bit of regulations for people renting out their houses, because it just seems like you can drive down the street and pick out which ones are being rented out. They’re not being taken care of,” Lipscomb said. “There might be one or two gas and oil guys staying somewhere, and there will be four big trucks, it’s an issue.”

She added that the city has many houses currently being rented and wants those properties to be taken care of the same as houses that aren’t being rented.

Lipscomb then said that the people who own short-term rental properties are keeping the property cleaned because they’re at the property more frequently.

“I think there’s going to be less problems there because they keep it up,” she said.

Brahler agreed with Lipscomb, adding that those types of rental properties are judged by its renters on a star system and the better the rating the more rentals it receives so its owners will ensure the properties stay clean and taken care of.

Police chief Matt Arbenz said that he isn’t aware of any short term properties causing issues in the city but is aware of companies buying private homes and turning them into drug rehab facilities.

Arbenz added that those facilities are supposed to have a house mother on duty to monitor everything, and he’s seeing that a house mother is typically on duty.

“There’s a neighborhood very close to our schools that this happened in and the neighbors were irate,” Arbenz said. “Within the first week we had issues at that place, and there was no way we could stop it because we have nothing in place. ”

He asked council if an ordinance could be made to prevent companies buying residential properties and turning them into drug rehab facilities.

Murphy replied that law director Joe Vavra would have to do some research into the matter and find out if an ordinance can be created.

Vavra said that he will absolutely get to the bottom of the issue but properties considered group homes are protected under the Federal Housing Act which states local governments cannot enforce zoning rules that unfairly restrict group homes and must make reasonable accommodations in policies or zoning regulations when necessary to allow people with disabilities equal access to housing.

According to equalhousing.org group homes may serve individuals with any type of physical or mental disability disabilities. Group homes may or may not provide support services or include supervision. It may be operated by individuals or organizations, either for profit or nonprofit and may or may not be licensed under a particular state or local program “addiction recovery homes” or “sober homes” for persons who are in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse.