As a prime tourism destination, vacation rental homes have long been a part of Cook County’s landscape. A “vacation rental” is when a property owner rents out their home or cabin on a short-term basis while they are not staying in the dwelling. Vacation rental provisions first appeared in the 1984 Cook County Zoning Ordinance, and until now have been listed as a “generally permitted use” in all residential zone districts.
This means property owners have been able to offer their dwellings as vacation rentals without obtaining any special permit or license from the county. In a few small locations in Lutsen and Tofte, a conditional or interim use permit is required as a result of their local sub-area planning regulations. Vacation rentals have, however, always been regulated to some extent, through the Minnesota Department of Health as lodging establishments.
Vacation rentals have provided a valuable service to the area by offering a greater variety of places for people to stay when visiting, which in turn provides a supplementary income for property owners. They also help support the local economy by creating jobs through management companies and other support businesses, as well as through lodging taxes, and through visitor dollars spent in local stores, restaurants, and other businesses.
Increasing usage raises questions
With the onset of vacation rental websites such as Airbnb, VRBO, etc., we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of dwellings used as vacation rentals, which has raised some important questions and concerns: . Are vacation rentals really good for the community? . Is there enough oversight to ensure the protection of our environmental standards with regards to safe drinking water and septic waste treatment? . Who is watching out for the neighbors with regards to quality of life concerns (noise, trespass, traffic, etc.)? . What is the impact of short-term, rentals on the long-term rental housing market? . How do we make sure there is a level playing field between vacation rentals and smaller resorts through the payment of lodging taxes?
In consideration of these concerns increasingly brought to the county commissioners and staff, the board created a Vacation Rental Committee in the summer of 2015. The charge of this committee has been to evaluate vacation rental operations along with their impacts within the county and provide recommendations regarding how the county should address the concerns.
The committee includes representation from the vacation rental industry, resorts, realtors, general population, elected officials and county staff, who have met several times over the past years. Until the autumn of 2018, the committee determined that the county should take no formal action that would increase the level of regulatory oversight of vacation rentals, each time citing that existing regulations were sufficient to address the expressed concerns.
Since then, the committee has received an increasing number of comments and felt it was time for the county to have some regulatory involvement. A sub-committee was directed to develop and recommend a regulatory oversight program that would not be over-burdensome to the vacation rental industry to operate within and yet be streamlined enough for the county to manage with limited resources.
Draft Vacation Rental Ordinance
From that work, and analysis of how other counties around the state are handling vacation rentals, an ordinance has been drafted that would create a licensing program. The intent of the Vacation Rental Ordinance is to continue the allowed use of private vacation rental homes and cabins, but also mitigate possible adverse impacts of those operations. The draft ordinance also establishes basic requirements for each rental operation such as: . Ensuring the rental is appropriately licensed by the state. . That there is a local point of contact for responding to any issues or emergencies that arise, and . That the lodging taxes are paid up to date.
The draft Vacation Rental Ordinance was presented to the board of commissioners on March 12 for review. At this meeting, the board decided to move ahead with a public hearing process to gather further input from the broader community.
Public hearing—Give your input
The public hearing is set for Wednesday, April 10, at 6 p.m. in the Commissioners Room of the Cook County Courthouse.
You can also contact the Cook County Land Services Department at 218-387-3630 with any questions, or to get a copy of the draft ordinance for review. Comments on the draft ordinance will be accepted throughout the public hearing process, which may take more than one meeting depending on the amount of input and discussion.
County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County—Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service.
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