Montgomery City Council makes changes to proposed short-term rentals, discusses Flock cameras
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) — The Montgomery City Council once again delayed a vote Tuesday night on an ordinance that would establish rules and regulations for short-term rental properties in the city.
The ordinance has been on the council’s agenda for several weeks, and Tuesday’s meeting was expected to be when council members finally voted on the measure.
Instead, seven residents addressed the council and raised concerns about changes they said should be made before the ordinance is approved.
One issue involved a proposed requirement for short-term rental owners or operators to respond within a certain amount of time when police or firefighters are called to a property because of a problem.
Under the revised ordinance, the response period would increase from 15 minutes to one hour. If an owner-operator does not respond within that time, the owner could face the loss of its business license.
District 7 Councilman Andrew Szymanski said the council is close to reaching a compromise that addresses concerns from both residents and short-term rental operators.
“I’m actually surprised at how close we are to making all sides of the argument really happy in this ordinance,” Szymanski said. “That’s why tonight was really about making sure that a couple more tweaks, things that just made sense for owner operators, were included.”
Szymanski said the goal of the ordinance is to ensure short-term rentals are a positive part of Montgomery’s business community while giving the city tools to address problematic operators.
He said some operators now own dozens of short-term rental properties, making the industry significantly different from when it was primarily a small-scale business.
“There are municipalities all over this country that are kind of confronting this issue where short-term rentals went from being kind of a cottage industry to now a real enterprise where I have some operators that own 30, 40, or 50 properties,” Szymanski said.
Szymanski said he has also heard from residents who support regulations that would allow city officials to intervene when short-term rental operators create problems.
The council plans to review the proposed changes over the next two weeks.
The council also briefly discussed the city’s use of Flock cameras, following concerns from a resident about whether the cameras violate residents’ rights.
Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys said the police department uses the city’s Flock cameras to assist with investigations.
Councilwoman Julie Beard said the cameras have helped make Montgomery neighborhoods safer by assisting police in catching criminals. She said residents in her district have also asked for additional cameras.
According to Beard, Montgomery has 121 Flock cameras. Some are owned by the Montgomery Police Department, while others are owned by neighborhood associations.
The City Council is expected to vote on the revised short-term rental ordinance at its next meeting in two weeks.
You can read the latest version of the ordinance here.
