News Flash

August 10, 2023 - Mayor Donnie Tuck announced Wednesday that Council would hit the pause button on short-term rental use permits until they can hear more legal and policy advice and further study questions of density and impact to residential neighborhoods.

They deferred voting on the five applications on Wednesday’s agenda until November, to allow time for staff research and also so they can talk to more members of the Hampton community.

"Before the City Council began considering short-term rental use permits, we convened a stakeholder group to provide the council with recommendations about how to best regulate short term rentals,” said Mayor Tuck. “That stakeholder group included Neighborhood Commission members, a bed-and-breakfast operator, a hotel operator, and short-term rental operators. 

"The group provided the Council with recommended conditions for short-term rentals. However, since the Council began holding public hearings regarding specific use applications, we’ve heard from many other community members about anticipated impacts to their neighborhoods stemming from the use.” 

Staff was already in the process of working on the question of density, or how many short-term rentals there should be in a given area. Now they will also look at what areas of the city make the most sense to contain short-term rentals.

"This will allow time for us to receive legal guidance from the city attorney’s office, consider our options to regulate density and appropriate areas for short-term rentals, and to engage with the public considering a proposed path forward without acting on any new use permits,” said Mayor Tuck.