There’s a small town with a bustling Main Street, successful businesses and a vibrant mixture of eateries, retail shops and nearby lodging options.
That town is actively trying to recruit new businesses, bring in additional tourism revenue and simultaneously maintain the small-town feel that residents and visitors alike have come to know and love.
Does it sound a lot like Highlands?
The town is actually Clayton, Georgia, and the nearby municipality recently took action on a piece of legislation regarding short-term rental properties that may be beneficial to Highlands’ town officials.
Whether the new short-term rental ordinance in Clayton serves as an example to follow, or as a cautionary tale of what type of legislation to avoid, remains to be seen. Hopefully, Highlands’ elected leaders will keep an eye on what impacts the ordinance has in a similar community.
Regulating short-term rentals has become a hot topic in recent years as cities and towns have seen a drastic increase in such properties, often called vacation rentals by owner. VRBO’s allow property owners to make extra income housing visitors to the area either nightly or weekly at a rate that is typically much cheaper than a hotel or traditional travel lodging option.
While making money on a VRBO is obviously beneficial to the homeowner, there are questions surrounding whether or not such rentals are beneficial to neighboring property owners, or towns as a whole.
Tales of increased traffic, loud parties and even mistaken addresses at VRBOs are easy to come by and all of those concerns have been voiced by neighboring property owners at Highlands town board meetings.
While the idea of developing a short-term rental ordinance has been discussed by the board and mayor Patrick Taylor, no such ordinance has been drafted as of yet.
With Clayton’s ordinance now on the books, Highlands’ leadership can keep a watchful eye on the impact of that regulation. Highlands is a unique community with unique needs and challenges, but having a comparable case study so close by is an asset.