PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — In a Tuesday night meeting, residents of unincorporated parts of Pinellas County told their commissioners the same thing, one after another.
“If anybody walks out of here not thinking this is an issue for the citizens and the community and this state, then they’re missing the boat,” one of the speakers, Dan Autry, said.
Autry and the others believe short-term vacation rentals, like Airbnbs and VRBOs, are destroying the peace and tranquility in their neighborhoods, and they brought examples to the meeting.
“Kids and adults jumping off the roof into the pool,” Autry told commissioners. “Teenagers from Tampa partying with beer — liquor.”
“Overflowing trash from the trash cans,” another speaker added. “They’ll block people into their driveways, block mailboxes, park on lawns.”
Because of Florida statute, the Pinellas County government cannot ban short-term rentals, but it does have an ordinance in place that governs some aspects of the rentals.
Those rules, however, might change soon, which is why so many homeowners showed up to the Tuesday meeting, including Ericka Hering, who lives in Seminole.
“I used to know all the neighbors, but now, it’s kind of questionable,” she said.
The county was considering a plan to scrap its current maximum overnight occupancy limit for short-term rentals in favor of a formula that would potentially allow rentals to accommodate more occupants. Additionally, the county’s plan would also reduce quiet hours for short-term rentals.
Herring believes those changes would pave the way for even more vacation rentals in more Pinellas County neighborhoods.
“I fear that these investment companies are going to swoop in and buy them all up and turn them all into short-term rentals,” she said.
In the lengthy meeting, county commissioners largely agreed with Hering and the other neighbors who spoke. Commissioners nixed the plan to change the occupancy limit and quiet hours.
Commissioners voiced support for other proposed changes, including a registration system for vacation rentals and better enforcement of existing rules.
There was a general consensus among commissioners that the county needs stricter rules to hold vacation rentals accountable for the behavior disturbing homeowners.
Multiple commissioners floated the idea of revoking a rental license after multiple infractions. Commissioner René Flowers wondered if rentals should be required to hire security for large gatherings.
County staff members will study the commissioners’ recommendations and incorporate some of them in a new short-term rental proposal that will be presented to commissioners at a future meeting.
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