Decision on future of short-term rentals in Pleasant Ridge still uncertain

PLEASANT RIDGE — The topic of short-term rentals in Pleasant Ridge came forth again at a recent City Commission meeting.

At the Jan. 13 meeting, the City Commission heard an update on how to proceed with short-term rentals from City Attorney Greg Need.

Previously, at the commission’s December meeting, the commission instructed city staff to look into banning short-term rentals.

According to a city document written by Need, he researched two ordinances from Dearborn Heights and Grosse Pointe Woods that recently prohibited short-term rentals.

In Dearborn Heights, the city prohibited short-term rentals and that “prohibition does not apply to bed and breakfasts, boarding houses, hotels, motels, and similar uses,” Need wrote. “A section dealing with enforcement establishes a rebuttable presumption that a property owner is engaging in a short term rental operation if it has advertised one either through publication, online, or by a hosting platform, within the past 60 days. The ordinance provides that an individual who rents property as a short term rental is guilty of a civil infraction punishable by a civil fine of $5,000 per day.”

For Grosse Pointe Woods, Need said, the city took a simpler approach with a definition of what short-term rentals are and then indicated that all rental properties must be occupied by the same tenant for a minimum of 30 days.

Need told the commission at the meeting that implementing a total ban of short-term rentals could leave the city open to an exclusionary zoning challenge, and that there is both the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act and case law that states there are constraints on a community that seeks to prohibit a land use within its boundaries.

“Doesn’t mean that it’s always fatal, but it does allow for a challenge,” he said. “We thought that a reasonable approach would be to prohibit short-term rentals within the single-family residential zoning districts, but allow them in the multiple districts, in the commercial districts. By having some property where it might be allowed, that will allow withstanding the exclusionary zoning argument. Yet, as I understood a lot of the commission opinions last month, it was preservation of … the character of the single-family residential neighborhoods and the effect short-term rentals might have on that, that was driving at least a partial prohibition.”

Need stated in his letter to the commission that he believed there were three options the city could pursue: maintain the status quo, which would allow short-term rentals in Pleasant Ridge; adopt a zoning ordinance that establishes which zoning districts allow short-term rentals with certain conditions, along with a licensing ordinance to regulate the operational aspects; or adopt a zoning ordinance amendment that prohibits all short-term rentals, with Need suggesting an approach similar to what Dearborn Heights took.

Mayor Bret Scott told the Woodward Talk that work on what the city will do next is ongoing, but that City Manager James Breuckman is investigating different districts that Pleasant Ridge could place rentals and any conditions that might impact how they adjust their ordinances.

“We’ll put together a proposal that will go to our Planning Commission, and that proposal will likely include some districting of short-term rentals,” Scott said.

“A great priority for the city is to make sure that short-term rentals do not have an impact to the neighborhoods in general,” he continued. “We don’t have a lot of businesses in Pleasant Ridge, and we’re fortunate that the businesses we have do a great job of integrating themselves into the community. They serve the people that live here and are seen as a value to the community. We want to make sure that short-term rental businesses fit that mold, and so are looking to address that in our ordinances. That may include deciding where they can be and then what to do with the existing short-term rentals that are already in place.”