Columbus neighborhood leaders have put together a list of proposals to tighten city rules on short-term rentals such as Airbnb or VRBO, expressing concerns about safety, crowding, parking, noise and other issues.

Kate Curry-Da-Souza, who chairs the Near East Area Commission, said the tipping point was when 30-year-old Clayden C. McNeil was found shot to death in a doorway of a property in the 1600 block of Oak Street near Franklin Park on Jan. 10, 2023. A report said that it had operated as a short-term rental.

Columbus has 1,688 licensed short-term rentals.

The commission’s ideas include:

● Limiting the number of short-term rentals in a census tract or ZIP code, to avoid saturations of any area.

● Notifying neighbors of short-term rental listings in their area.

● Residential, tax-abated properties should not be eligible for short-term licenses unless they are owner-occupied.

● Imposing a higher licensing fee for owners operating large occupancy-properties — the proposal doesn’t define a specific number — or those who own many short-term properties.

Curry-Da-Souza, who is also enlisting other neighborhood groups to get behind the effort, said she wants to bring the proposals to City Council.

“We all care about people being safe,” she said. “Right now it’s not.

“We’ve had some bad actors.”

Preventing a tragedy

A separate shooting incident just before Christmas involved what a caller told police was a short-term rental in the 600 block of Oak Street at the eastern edge of Downtown.

A barrage of gunfire exploded shortly before midnight on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023, just east of the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s main branch and Topiary Park.

According to an email from Columbus police to Lisa Defendiefer of the Capital Crossroads and Discovery special improvement districts, one caller to 911 said they heard more than 30 gunshots, while another caller said they heard more than 100. A police dispatcher said they could hear gunshots over the phone. No one was shot despite the amount of reported gunfire, according to police reports.

Among those at the address of the building with the short-term rental were three 28-year-olds from Memphis, Tennessee, two women and a man. Included in the witness list in the police report were six females ages 14-17 and two males, ages 17 and 18. The sex of one 16-year-old witness was not listed.

Police found shell casings inside the Oak Street unit. They also found an assault rifle nearby, and shell casings and an assault rifle in front of a nearby house on Oak Street. Two nearby units were hit by gunfire, as well as a vehicle behind an Oak Street house.

Defendiefer said while her office has heard about noise and drug and alcohol abuse at some Downtown short-term rentals, this is the first time gunfire has been an issue.

A limited-liability company owns the Oak Street property. The Dispatch texted and left phone messages with a person connected to the limited liability company’s address.

Curry-Da-Souza said her commission and residents came up with the ideas for further regulating short-term rentals that they believe make sense for renters and the surrounding neighborhood.

“People coming to short-term rentals should be safe. People around short-term rentals should be safe,” she said.

“We’re another emergency away from a very tragic incident.”

Few formal complaints made

Columbus records show the city’s 311 system was contacted 32 times about 25 short-term rental addresses in 2023, not including the Oak Street property. Five properties had multiple complaints, from the same source in four of the five cases.

In some cases, the concerns are about loud noises and people coming and going. Three complaints reference shootings.

Abe Zawodni lives near Franklin Park on the Near East Side with his wife, Crys Darling. They rent out the third floor of their home for short-term guests.

Zawodni said that he is concerned about property owners listing 20 to 30 homes for short-term rentals.

“You have to question how much vetting is going on, how much accountability going on,” he said.

In one case, Zawodni said a property that had been owner-occupied became a problem when the owner moved out and decided to turn it into a short-term rental. It became a party house, he said.

The city’s Department of Public Safety referred three properties to the City Attorney’s Office for prosecution in 2023 from the nearly 1,700 licensed short-term rentals.

Only one resulted in a conviction. A Cape Coral, Florida, man was fined $200 in 2023 for operating a short-term rental on Hawkes Avenue in Franklinton without a permit, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records online.

One case is still pending. Another was to be dismissed if the defendant completed community service.

One resident who contacted 311 was Justin Porter of the Northeast Side. A home on his street in a residential neighborhood is a short-term rental and has hosted parties, he said. One night, there was a drive-by shooting.

“There’s a lot more police up and down our street,” he said.

Other Columbus neighborhoods back changes

Curry-Da-Souza is talking with other neighborhood leaders, including the Far East Area Commission and the University Area Commission, which she said have both agreed to back the proposals.

Jennifer Chamberlain, who leads the Far East Area Commission, said there’s not a significant problem in her area now. “It’s doesn’t mean we won’t have that problem in the future,” she said, especially with all the building happening on the Far East Side. So her area commission supports what the Near East Area Commission is trying to do, she said.

Eric East, a University Area commissioner, said area residents have concerns with short-term rentals — particularly on OSU football and basketball game days — and with loud parties.

“It’s become the running joke in the neighborhood that on game day, all the rental scooters are parked in front,” East said.

“Our district flower is the red Solo cup,” he said.

East also mentioned violent incidents, including one on Dec. 19, 2022, where three people were shot at a party at a VRBO short-term rental in the 2000 block of North 4th Street.

In 2021, Columbus City Council did tighten up short-term rental rules, including a provision through which the city can revoke a license at any time without waiting for the annual license renewal. and adding more grounds for denying, suspending, or revoking short-term licenses.

Kevin McCain, a legislative aide to Councilmember Rob Dorans, who sponsored the 2021 legislation, said that City Council is comfortable with the current regulations.

“The issue might be on enforcement,” McCain said. “What we can do? A lot of times hosts can be the victims themselves. They can be duped with a party without their knowledge.”

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Should city pass new rules for short-term rentals? Some think so