By Sterling McGinn
Recognizing a significant housing crisis in the Upper Peninsula and in Newberry, the Newberry Village Council voted at their August regular meeting to adopt an ordinance regulating the operation and number of short-term rental properties in the village limits.
The meeting was held on Wednesday, August 28 at 6 p.m., and was delayed one week to due to a water leak in the roof of the village chambers.
“In an effort to make sure there is a balance between Airbnbs, and still making sure that there is enough housing for long-term residents is one of the motivations for doing this ordinance and just having some basic guidance for what is needed for short-term rentals,” said Village Manager Allison Watkins.
Ordinance 61 applies only to the rental of an entire dwelling unit on a short-term basis, not to the short-term rental of individual rooms or a portion of a dwelling unit.
“This has been in the ordinance committee for two years now, and the ordinance committee met and reviewed it, and recommend approval,” Watkins said. “Right now, we don’t have a major issue with short-term rentals, but a lot of cities and communities do.”
Watkins said Newberry’s housing crisis centers on not having enough long-term rentals for or single-family homes to live in.
Once the ordinance takes effect, the total number of short-term rentals within the village limits cannot exceed 15. Property owners interested in operating a short-term rental in the village limits will have to apply for a permit through the village.
There are currently seven of them operating in town.
Ordinance 61 does not apply to legally permitted bed and breakfasts, bed and breakfast inns, or legally non-conforming motels and hotels.
The short-term rentals will be considered commercial property, and if the property is owned by someone from out of the area, the owner must have a local contact person who access and manage the unit.
The short-term rental may be rented for not more than a total of 180 nights in a calendar year and the unit may be rented no more than two occurrences in any seven-night period.
Trustee Kip Cameron feels that the ordinance would intrude on private business in Newberry, and does not support it.
“If I want to buy a house and rent it for an Airbnb, and you are telling me I can’t do that? Isn’t that prying into somebody’s private business?” he asked.
Trustee Stokes said that the ordinance would make the owners responsible for the business.
“We are not telling them they can’t do it—it is just saying that we need answers if they are going to operate one.”
After discussion, the board voted to adopt the ordinance; Cameron cast the sole vote in opposition.
In other business, Watkins said that only one member of the public and two council members attended the Village of Newberry community information session reviewing the water service line “pothole” project, which was held on Monday, August 26.
Engineers from C2AE were present to give a presentation. The project will impact at least 122 residential properties to visualize water service lines to determine the material of the pipe. This is part of the effort to inventory service lines for the mandated lead service line replacement.
The “pothole” project excavates with high-powered water jets that do not damage the line. Following the inspection, any area disturbed in a resident’s yard will be restored the same day.
“The process takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 60 minutes,” Watkins said. “They cut the sod off the top, move the sod, flip it over, dig down with high-pressure water, visualize and record the line and place the sod cap back on top.”
Finally, during public comment, Newberry resident Dave Faulkner expressed concern about minibikes travelling up and down the alley between East Avenue A and Avenue B driving at least 40 miles an hour.
“Article 3 in Ordinance 32 has got a lot of rules about these types of vehicles,” Faulkner said. “As far east as they can go is Charles Road, and that is 15 miles per hour to and from the trails that these things are designed for.”
The council will follow up on the comments at the September meeting.
