Town approves Highlands Community Plan

After two years of planning, public meetings and several surveys, the Highlands Town Board of Commissioners approved the Highlands Community Comprehensive Plan, last Thursday night.

The comprehensive plan had to be adopted by July 1, according to general statute, in order for local governments to retain authority to adopt and enforce zoning regulations.

“This was a critical procedure that we had to do,” Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor said. “If we had not passed this, it would have impacted our ability to do zoning in the future. I want to thank the community and all of the stakeholders for all of the time and energy they invested in providing information and feedback. This isn’t a board plan; this is a community plan.”

Public Hearing Comments

Though the public hearing was held for the comprehensive plan, several residents took the opportunity to voice their opinions about short-term rentals.

David Bee spoke on behalf of the Save Highlands group.

“We continue to fight for the rights of short-term rental owners and managers, as well as property rights for everyone in Highlands,” Bee said. “Our position on the comprehensive plan, is that the plan should reflect the will of all Highlanders who have shown overwhelming support for short-term rentals and count for the Highlands economy, which is fueled by the revenue short-term rentals generate through local employment and tourism.”

Bee said the comprehensive plan should inform and suggest how the town should regulate short-term rentals.

“The draft states it should encourage lodging and tourism rentals by limiting any negative impact on existing residents and businesses and it should monitor and mitigate the impact of short-term rentals on the Highlands community,” Bee said. “The town can accomplish these goals with existing nuisance ordinances. Save Highlands is deeply invested in protecting the individual rights that Highlanders have always enjoyed, and Save Highlands urges the town to honor these rights and to consider the widespread support of short-term rentals in their role of sustaining the Highlands economy.”

Ellie Hogan said she is probably one of the only realtors that does not want to see short-term rentals in R-1 zoning in Highlands.

“My reasoning is because I own a house on Laughing Bear Trail,” Hogan said. “It is very unique. Throughout the house there are certain things I’ve saved for the past 33 years to make it my own. There was nobody next to me, but eventually somebody built a family home. Unfortunately, the husband died in that family and the wife started using it as a short-term rental. That really affected me in a big way. I like privacy and now all of a sudden, I don’t know anyone. Her driveway is deep and there is a continuous spinning of tires and people parking right in the roadway.”

Long story short, Hogan said she moved back to Horse Cove and has been renting her home as a long-term rental.

“I started thinking that either the short-term renting would be over with, and I could move back into my home, or I would also be able to short-term rent and join the fray, but the way it turns out, the only pathway people are working on is to make short-term rentals available to people that have been doing it,” Hogan said. “That is not fair. It is not right. You are making the value of my property less valuable to those people who are looking for investment property, versus mine that is not allowed to be a short-term rental and therefore, the people who are seeking the house that is not a short-term rental, don’t want one in their yard. It’s affecting me and the value of my home and it should be addressed.”

Pat Allen said the entire short-term rental situation has been blown out of proportion.

“If you think about how few complaints we get, if you talk to Sissy and the neighborhoods who are really disturbed by these young and restless that come here, for instance, I sold to a doctor and his wife in a neighborhood and she called me and said the local people across the street who is a fireman is sitting across the street on his porch drinking beer and yelling and watching tv. So, it’s not the short-term rental owners that should be punished for something that has been allowed for 40 years,” Allen said. “It should just be enforced. Call the police. Let the homeowners know and it will eventually stop. But when you start banning homeowners’ rights, that borders on communism, if you ask me. They have a right to do with that house what they want. There are laws in place. I just think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion.”

Ricky Seigel said STRs are not prohibited in Highlands in all zones.

“If you are zoned properly, you can have a short-term rental and in certain zones in the UDO, you cannot have short-term rentals,” Seigel said. “I don’t think short-term rentals should be in residential areas.”

Board deliberation

The town board of commissioners started deliberating whether to adopt the comprehensive plan, with Taylor mentioning that the plan is only a conceptual roadmap.     

“This is a guide for the future of Highlands,” Taylor said. “This does not conclude once we adopt this tonight. We can always go back and make amendments or changes at another point in time.”

Commissioner Marc Hehn brought up problems he had with page 70 of the comprehensive plan, which deals with short-term rentals.

In the plan, Action Item 7 states: Monitor and mitigate the impact of short-term rentals on the Highlands community. It then breaks down different suggestions:

7A: Voluntary registration of units or third-party tracking.

7B: Enforcement of trash and noise ordinances.

7C: Begin education and outreach effort to rental owners to emphasize existing trash and noise regulations.

7D: Encourage HOAs to regulate STRs.

7E: Consider updates to land use regulations to define STRs as a use and establish restrictions or an additional approval requirement.

• Consider alternative approval processes, design requirements, restrictions of short-term rentals and/or requiring a minimum length of stay throughout town or in residential areas.

Commissioner Amy Patterson then brought up that the plan is just suggestions for the board to consider.

“What we decide in the future as a legislative action, we consider these things, but we don’t have to do them,” Patterson said. “The answer could be either yes or no, but we consider it. Whatever we decide in the future, will be what we decide.”

Patterson then made a motion to adopt the comprehensive plan, and it passed with a vote of 4-1, with Hehn opposing.

“I am very concerned about the legality of what we passed,” Hehn said. “There’s some stuff in there about registration and I am very concerned.”

Community Survey Results on STRs

In the plan, there were several surveys conducted with community involvement that mentioned short-term rentals.

Question four asked, “What are your biggest concerns for the future of Highlands?” Controlling short-term rentals ended up being ranked fifth with 32.21 percent of the response, behind environmental preservation in first with 52.57 percent of the response, maintaining a vibrant downtown with 33.60 percent of the response, expanding and/or upgrading infrastructure (water, sewer, internet,) with 33 percent of the response and historic preservation and cultural resources with 32.51 percent of the response. 1,012 people responded to this question.

Question 16 on the community survey asked, “Do you have any concerns about short-term rentals?” 906 people in the community answered, with 62.03 percent saying they do have concerns.

Question 17 asked what the concerns were about short-term rentals. 53.38 percent of the response mentioned improperly stored trash. 52.63 percent mentioned road impact, (traffic, speeding.) 33.83 percent mentioned impacts on housing supply. 31.58 percent mentioned length of stay. 31.20 percent mentioned illegal parking or lower availability of shared parking and decreased long-term rental options. 30.08 percent mentioned short-term rentals should be limited to certain areas and 10.90 percent mentioned utility concerns. A total of 532 respondents answered question 17.

- By Christopher Lugo