The Sedona City council did a little winter housekeeping regarding one of the most talked about topics in the community.
On Tuesday, Nov. 26, council voted unanimously to approve a resolution and ordinance revising the city’s code on short-term vacation rentals.
“This has been a work in progress for us for quite some time,” City Attorney Robert Pickels said. “And because many municipalities are working toward adopting similar type ordinances, we’re seeing language from other jurisdictions that we like.”
In May, Gov. Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2672 into law. Among other things, the bill provides cities and towns additional — albeit limited — authority to regulate short-term rentals of residential properties and imposes additional legal requirements on owners and operators of short-term vacation rentals. These updates to city code required council approval.
A staff report states that HB 2672 prohibits short-term rentals from being rented or offered for rent without the operator first having a current, valid Transaction Privilege Tax license, and further requires the operator to list the TPT license number on each advertisement offering the property for rent.
Although HB 2672 still prohibits cities and towns from banning short-term rentals, the legislation does give cities and towns the following additional, limited regulatory authority:
-Cities and towns can now require owners of short-term rentals to provide emergency contact information prior to advertising or renting their property
-Cities and towns can impose civil penalties on owners of short-term rentals who fail to provide contact information, allow their properties to be used for nonresidential purposes, or fail to obtain a TPT license before renting their property or offering their property for rent
-Cities and towns can impose civil penalties on operators of short-term rentals who fail to list the TPT license number on each advertisement offering the property for rent.
Under HB 2672, cities and towns retain their existing authority to protect public health and safety and enforce residential use and zoning ordinances, including ordinances related to noise, parking, solid waste, property maintenance and other nuisance issues.
Part of the change to the code includes that the emergency point of contact means the owner or owner’s designee be located within 25 miles of the vacation rental, short-term rental or transient lodging establishment. This person must be available 24 hours per day, seven days per week for the purpose of responding in-person, telephonically or by email to complaints, emergencies or other incidents at the property in a timely manner. This means telephonic or in-person contact with the occupants of the property and the city or the city’s designee will be done within 60 minutes of a call for each incident.
The updated code reads that no vacation rental, short-term rental or transient lodging establishment in any residential district shall be used for nonresidential uses, including for any special event that would require a permit or license pursuant to city code or as a retail establishment, restaurant, banquet space or any other similar use.
In addition, the owner of any vacation rental, short-term rental or transient lodging establishment shall be responsible to ensure that the property complies with all applicable fire, building, health and safety codes, and all other relevant state and local laws.
“This is going to be somewhat of an organic ordinance for a while until we find out how it’s working and if adjustments need to be made,” Pickels said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us learning from others. We have to put something in place now so that we can start to see how these moving pieces are going to work. It’s much more likely than not that we’re going to come back and have adjustments to this periodically.”
