by Jackie Nunnery
LANCASTER—Following a public hearing on revisions to short-term rental (STR) ordinances, supervisors on Thursday, July 25, unanimously approved the changes, effective immediately. As a result, unhosted STRs will require special exceptions in order to operate.
County administrator Don Gill said the board “adopted the ordinance in September 2023 but postponed enforcement until all of the zoning ordinances could be amended and to allow time for the public to realize what was going on.” Meanwhile, the General Assembly made a change to state code prohibiting localities from placing special exceptions or conditional use requirements on STRs when it was the owner’s primary residence and occupied by the owner during the rental.
As for STRs already under operation, county attorney Jim Cornwell said “I’m not deciding that (existing unhosted STRs) are grandfathered because I think that’s a bad decision to make. We have a registry requirement, but if they didn’t register, we wouldn’t know about it. So how can they be grandfathered?”
In addition to adding related definitions, the changes made hosted STRs a permitted use and unhosted STRs a special exception in agriculture, residential, residential community, residential medium and waterfront residential overlay zoning districts.
Supervisor Jason Bellows wanted to ensure proof presented that the home was a primary residence when the STR was registered. “We need legitimate documentation that it is a primary residence. Otherwise it’s unenforceable.”
They adopted the changes, 5-0, with Bellows, Craig Giese, William Smith, Ernest Palin and Bill Lee voting in favor.
Gill will present a list of required documentation for registering STRs at the next meeting. He said a mailing will go out to STRs on the registry regarding the special exception requirement.
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