PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — It’s spring break for a lot of people, and Ericka Hering can tell.
A number of the homes in her Seminole neighborhood are listed as short-term rentals on Airbnb, and Hering says she and her neighbors often experience disruptive behavior as a result.
“This week, we already had 16 or 18 people at one of the short-term rentals. They had eight cars parked in the street,” she said.
Hering is one of several homeowners who showed up to a Feb. 25 meeting of the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners to share their thoughts on short-term rentals with county leaders. They believe short-term vacation rentals, like Airbnbs and VRBOs, are destroying the peace and tranquility in Pinellas County neighborhoods, and they brought examples to the meeting.
“Kids and adults jumping off the roof into the pool,” one homeowner 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.”
At the Feb. 25 meeting, commissioners considered scrapping the current maximum overnight occupancy limit for short-term rentals in favor of a formula that would potentially allow rentals to accommodate more occupants. The county’s plan would also reduce quiet hours for short-term rentals.
Hering believed those changes would allow for even more vacation rentals in more Pinellas County neighborhoods, so she and others spoke in opposition.
County commissioners largely agreed with Hering and the other neighbors who spoke, and now, the plan has been changed as a result.
Commissioners will consider the updated plan next Tuesday, which removed the controversial changes to the occupancy rate and quiet hours.
“I definitely feel like we’re heading in the right direction,” Hering said. “Through…meetings and discussions and emails, it seems like the commissioners are hearing us.”
However, Hering said she and others will keep fighting for even stricter rules for short-term rentals.
Even though state law prevents commissioners from enacting many regulations, she believes commissioners can make certain changes, like better enforcement against the vacation rentals disturbing neighborhoods like hers.
“A lot of noise complaints are happening overnight, and there aren’t really code enforcement officers that are available to respond to those, and I’d also like to see a pathway to suspension,” she said.
In a memo, county staffers say they will keep exploring ways to improve the rules.
Pinellas County Commission will debate and vote on the updated ordinance during a Tuesday meeting, which begins at 2 p.m.
“We’re ready for our visitors.”
Spring break season is back across Tampa Bay, and businesses are relying on spring break now more than ever.
