Newark City Council appears amenable to loosening short-term rental regulations.
Newark’s code doesn’t currently reference or ban short-term rentals, but it does limit “nontransient” rentals. The city has a history of limiting short-term rentals despite non-specific language.
The city’s Director of Planning and Development led a discussion to clarify the existing regulations and ensure short-term rentals are barred in the city.
But Councilmembers showed a surprising interest in easing restrictions instead, including Councilmember Marge Hadden.
“I think owner-occupied speaks for itself,” Hadden said. “If the owner is in the house, it's not very likely, unless the owner has always been a partier themselves, that they're going to be loud parties or that that place is going to be a nuisance.”
Consultants for the city said Newark officials likely aren’t walking out of this without creating some sort of short-term rental license or permit.
Councilmembers agreed they will need to define “nontransient” to ensure there are still limitations on short-term rentals.
Councilmembers also discussed creating short-term rental licenses or permits to make room for 90-day rentals they think would largely help student renters.
Newark Mayor Travis McDermott said the entire conversation is necessary to protect residential neighborhoods from potentially problematic student rentals.
“I can get down with 90 days,” McDermott said. “I like the opportunity to potentially, maybe levy a tax against short term rentals and owner occupied houses. I know that it's going to be next to impossible to enforce… I haven't heard of any, maybe absent one or two instances personally, which a short term rental has caused a lot of headache for the city.”
Councilmembers plan to introduce an ordinance that would make room for owner-occupied rentals, where the property owner is on site while rooms are being rented out.
