Inside City Hall: Cheers and boos ring out during debate over short-term rentals

Debate inside City Hall over the impact of the short-term rental industry on Atlanta communities continued last week with a lengthy joint committee meeting to hash out more proposed regulations.

It is no secret Atlanta plays host to some of the biggest events in the country. Particularly large sporting events such as college football national championships, Super Bowls, Final Fours and, of course, the 1996 Olympic Games.

Against the backdrop of the city’s booming hospitality industry, council members are walking a line of trying to weed out unruly short-term rentals that are a nuisance to neighborhoods, while still enabling short-term rental owners who rely on the business to rent out their vacation homes.

After already approving new regulations for vacation spots booked through platforms like Airbnb and VRBO, the Atlanta City Council is back to the drawing board again after the new licensing rules fell short.

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

The Department of City Planning said that as of February there are nearly 11,000 short-term rental listings in Atlanta. But, since new licensing requirements were implemented in March, the department has only issued around 1,100 licenses.

The revised proposal eliminates the hotly debated primary residence requirement that would have stipulated rental owners have to live in Atlanta. But arguably the most controversial proposed change is the addition of a 2,000-foot distance requirement between single-family vacation rentals that opponents say is unenforceable.

Short-term rental owners and Atlanta residents on both sides of the issue agree that there need to be concrete regulations to weed out “bad apples” but there’s little agreement on how best to do so.

“We will have the proper discussion so we can get this legislation shored up as soon as possible so that the efforts that you all so desperately needing will actually be in place soon,” said Council member Marci Collier Overstreet. “Because the city definitely needs to deliver that to you.”

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Credit: Steve Schaefer

Task force underway: The 42-member group created for input on Atlanta’s public safety training center will begin meeting this month.

Some of the large organizations participating in the task force are the NAACP, ACLU of Georgia, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Civil and Human Rights and Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.

The ACLU of Georgia weighed in on why they decided to take part in Mayor Andre Dickens’ effort despite criticism that the task force won’t impact the project.

Christopher Bruce, the group’s policy and advocacy director, said that while the organization is opposed to development of the facility, it’s focused on fighting domestic terrorism charges handed out to protestors.

“My job is not to take popular positions. It is to uphold our constitution.” he said on Twitter. “I’m against cop city but my main priority is having legal observers protected.”

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Housing: Construction is now underway for Hamilton Hills, a 52-unit apartment community in Southwest Atlanta. Gorman & Company says anticipated rents will start at $904 for one-bedroom units, $1,085 for two-bedroom units, and $1,253 for three-bedroom units. Atlanta also broke ground on The Trust at East Lake, a townhome community of 40 one-to-three-bedroom homes starting at $155,000.

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Hat tip: Atlanta Municipal Clerk Foris Webb III is retiring April 28 after nearly 34 years of service. In a Feb. 1 letter to City Council President Doug Shipman, Webb wrote that his successor should be Vanessa Waldon, who has served as the city’s deputy municipal clerk since 1998.

Webb told us City Hall is hosting a reception in his honor on April 17 ahead of his final council meeting, which is also when lawmakers are planning to give him a proclamation. We’ll keep you posted on what happens next for this essential role in Atlanta.