As the tourist trade continues to grow, Cape Charles, Northampton, and Accomack continue to struggle with the growth and regulation of short-term rentals. Short-term vacation rentals on the Shore are mainly located in residential areas–tourists are using up space that otherwise might be used for the local community. In some places, this is resulting in a decrease in long-term affordable housing available for the local workforce.
Then there’s all the vacation fun. Living next door to a short-term vacation rental can range from mildly concerning to completely life-altering. Visitors are here to party and have fun, which is fine unless it’s happening right next door (at 2 AM). Related complaints about trash, parking issues, and noise disturbance continue to worry local governments.
A recent CBES letter sums it up:
Northampton and Accomack Counties and towns up and down the Shore have been reviewing the regulation of Short-Term Rentals, in large part due to the negative impact of vacation rentals on affordable rentals for Shore citizens, as well as the rights of residents to control transient populations in their established communities.
BUT WAIT!
SB1391 sponsored by Senator Lynwood Lewis will severely limit a locality’s ability to regulate short-term rentals.
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+sum+SB1391
Here’s the summary:
Short-term rental property; locality’s ability to restrict property managed by a Virginia realtor.
Provides that a locality may not restrict by ordinance any short-term rental property managed by a Virginia realtor, defined in the bill.
The bill provides that a locality may not enforce an ordinance against such property where the ordinance
i) prohibits short-term rentals;
ii) limits occupancy in a short-term rental property to less than what is allowed under the building code or local zoning regulations;
iii) limits the number of days in a calendar year for which a short-term rental property can be rented;
iv) requires an owner to occupy the short-term rental property as his primary residence for any number of days in a calendar year;
v) requires any type of remote monitoring device to be installed on the short-term rental property, including decibel, audio, or video;
vi) requires exterior or interior inspections of the short-term rental property pertaining to any items defined under the building code more frequently than every five years, unless a complaint has been filed with the locality or building authority;
vii) requires repairs, renovations, or updates to the structure of the short-term rental property that are greater than those required under the applicable building code; or
viii) requires an owner to add additional or otherwise alter existing parking spaces for the short-term rental property.
The provisions of the bill shall apply to any short-term rental property managed by a realtor and operating as such on or after January 1, 2023.
The following letter was sent to Lynwood Lewis, and adequately reflects the concern of many citizens:
Dear Lynwood,
I have read through your proposed legislation wrt STR. With my background of having been trained by Dr. Mike Chandler and then serving on the Planning Commission of Northampton County for several years, I firmly believe your proposed legislation is misguided, short-sighted and potentially detrimental to every county in Virginia and all its citizens, with the exception of members of the Realter’s Assn. In addition your introduction creates the appearance of being beholden to the Realter’s Assn and with great disregard for the creation of a good Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning on which it is based.
Both Virginia Beach and Albemarle Co have experimented with loosely controlled STRs and withdrawn when it proved detrimental to their citizens.
Your proposal is a bad piece of legislation and I strongly urge you to withdraw it.
With regards,
Bob Meyers
Exmore
A fine example of politicians not knowing or understanding the rights of Towns to enact Ordinances. Example: The PUD Ordinance of February 1993 by the Town of Cape Charles establishing the ACCAWMACKE PLANTATION (n/k/a) Bay Creek, is by State law a Legislative Act (so is the Annexation Orders of 1991). Such Legislative Acts are not subject to judicial review. Only the Virginia Legislature can enact laws. This ignorance on the part of the proposed legislator (and therefore the Legislature) would by necessity require every Town, City, and County to surrender their Legislative rights (land classifications, Zoning Ordinances, Subdivision Ordinances, and such (enforcement obligations) to the whim of any sitting Legislature with enough votes to unravel centuries of Virginia Law. What is this ignoramus up to? Does he and or his cabal think that the public is not worthy of its own previous enactments? Perhaps, he will come up with the desire to remove public education next by Legislative whim. Please spare up this nonsense !
Thanks for posting and raising awareness.
I completely disagree with the commentary regarding the proposal. This law would in fact improve the quality of life for everyone by the requirements to bring UP the standards by requiring improvements, monitoring and parking. Read closely, tourism isn’t all bad if regulated early on. This could be a win for everyone except those that believe doing nothing is always better. Keep your trashy properties, pay more taxes as expenses rise, and income dwindles.
Yes this a huge win for the Shore – Especially Northampton which rules the county with a corrupt former slave-owning land mongering iron fist that is designed to diminish the economy for all except for the government elect, their employees, & their families.
Fire ALL of the Northampton politicians & the people appointed by the Northampton County BOS & replace them with people who understand that a diverse economy is what every county needs & deserves.
The Northampton County BOS & planning commission has repetitively intruded into peoples private property in EVERY way possible for years without just cause as if they own all of the property in the county despite there being bona fide regulations in place for decades.
For example – the current Northampton County Zoning Administrator is a recently disbarred Virginia lawyer that swindled money from his clients & most of the other people who work in the Northampton County Planning & Zoning department have deep familiar connections to others in the Northampton County government that own massive amounts of farmland which they want to add on to at little to no cost.
The true reason that Northampton does not want short term rentals is because these elite former slave owning farm family’s do not want any competition for the land on the Shore. Instead they want to add all of the land slowly bit-by-bit to their own farming operations.
I applaud Senator Lewis for his stand in protecting my property rights. Several Hampton Roads area localities have gone off the deep end in their attempts to regulate STRs , including allowing their them to enter your property without any notice or warrant. We should be thanking Senator Lewis for taking the conservative stand against this continuing local government overreach.
Yes – Northampton is totally out control from the unconstitutional actions of planning & zoning department, the BOS, & the Planning Commission with respect to intrusion into privately owned property.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT OVERREACH = CORRECT
The Northampton County officials want to own & control ALL of the real estate in the county not for the protection of the environment but to TAKE POSSESSION OF ALL THE REAL PROPERTY for their families sole benefit.
Most of the current employees of the Northampton County planning & Zoning department have family ties to the elected government officials and will lie to anyone that goes into that office with an idea that they disagree with to suit there own political/family agenda.
Currently there are MANY Northampton County government officials that don’t follow the regulations that are found in the county zoning books & publicly lie to the Northampton Virginia residents from the county government departments that are vested with state and local constitutional authority.
Recently Susan McGhee, Julie Floyd, & Paul Watson all lied in synchronicity to me in the planing & zoning department while Janice Williams tried to get me to place items before the Northampton BOS that according to my lawyer did not need to go before the board. This was done to support both these county officials personal political & familiar agendas.
All of these officials in the Northampton County Planning & Zoning office should have their employment terminated for lying from this public office.
I got dragged to a Lynwood Lewis meet n greet years ago. I overheard a conversation between him and a staff member. He was unaware that anyone else had remained in the room. He is not a nice person. His term expires 1/10/24. My guess is he sees the writing on the wall with the defeat of Lil’ Nancy Elaine Luria and realizes his time to ‘cash in’ is running out and he, like most Democrats, is perfectly willing to make a deal with The Devil. Note to Liberals: that free stuff you vote for ain’t really free. Satan is smiling. Live with it.
I have always believed government does not need to be in the real estate rental business.
Approving each one, insuring the safety of the building, enforcing the behavior etc etc.
Real Estate Co.’s are set up for this type of work. REC usually only offer weekly rentals, ensure each one is safe to inhabit and monitor behavior. Much more oversight then out of town owners or local governments. Plus they are insured for any damages.
Gov. has not the manpower nor the knowledge to provide oversight on rental regulations.
Thank GOD – The shore needs way more housing & the CBES is just one of the elite Franktown/Wellinton Neck local fake eco-terrorist organizations that stifles any type of growth that is presented to ESVA.
HERE HERE to the allowance of short-term-rentals on the Shore. Finally some economic growth may occur in Northampton after years & years of retardation of the economy by the elite former slave owning farm families & the rich come-here’s who drive HUGE GAS GUZZELING SUV’S, live in multi-million dollar waterfront homes, & drench the county farmland with massive amounts of pesticide while propounding non-sound/non-diversified eco-economic policy that only benefits themselves.
Finally a bit of legislation that spurs the local economy!
There aren’t a lot of places like Northampton. Very few. We love it here and live here for that reason. Rich or Poor. White, Black, Latino.
If you want something else, there are plenty of other places that have developed. That will welcome further development. That will welcome you and your ideas for economic expansion and development. Heck, we are establishing wetlands here for those exact areas via the Nature Conservancy. Go there and develop as much as you want … oh?? You probably don’t own property there. What was I thinking.
We do need more housing, but not more short-term rentals which is what this entire bill is about and if you don’t think so, you are kidding yourself. This bill is not the solution to longterm rentals for families in need. It’s about a property owners needing a way to skirt current zoning so they can develop in agricultural areas.
You are not the only person who lives here. Other people have a voice as well.
You are absolutely correct. However, if a person doesn’t like it here as it is … and it’s been like this for decades … they can move. There are plenty of other developed places to live.
There is no reason to do that development here.
Short term rentals only work to increase income into the county with very little impact.
Short term rentals should hardly be considered ‘development’ as they have little to no impact on the permanent residents expect to diversify the tax base.
As long as they are created in a place zoned for STR … that’s great.
What shouldn’t happen, and what this bill allows is for realtors to be able to is “l. The bill provides that a locality may not enforce an ordinance against such property where the ordinance (i) prohibits short-term rentals; ”.
Which means every property in every county in Virginia can be developed if you are a realtor and a member of the association.
That’s just insane. That means all zoning in all of Virginia means nothing if you get a realtor license, join the association and want to develop any property.
This has huge implications for the entire state. This isn’t just for Northampton.
It seems that iHeartShortTerm is especially short on education & understanding of Virginia Code and overall understanding the reason most ordinances enabled by the code exist. Although there are always bureaucrats that are also undereducated on the ordinances they are supposed to enforce and the Comprehensive Plan on which they are based, most do their jobs well serving the Northampton residents. iHeartST should certainly consider relocating as it seems this person has a tremendous animosity for this area & “it” would feel more at home in NYC or Chicago with the wonderful people there.
Finally legislation that will help Virginia’s Eastern Shore to prosper in a non-intrusive manner.
I don’t have tremendous animosity for this area but I do for the small minds here.
Then forget that it exist and move on….
I bet you voted for Bath-House-Barry, Hillary and China-Joe/Kamal-Toe.
My husband and I purchased our home on Monroe Avenue, in 2015.
At that time, there was only one long term rental in our block, which includes 12 homes.
The quiet, residential nature of our block was so appealing, that even though we had never owned an historic home before, or lived in a town, we were smitten.
In addition to the beautiful homes, we are blessed to have neighbors, both full-time and part-time, who know each other and look out for each other.
Many people called this “Mayberry:” quiet, beautiful, safe.
Then, about 4 years ago, some folks from Northern Virginia purchased one of the homes in our block. They invested about a year in sweat equity, to return the home to its original beauty.
Then they listed it on VRBO.
For $4,000 per week.
The first summer was not bad.
Most of their guests were extended family units, who were quiet, respectful, and appreciative of our little paradise. I guess $4k is not a lot to pay for a week of paradise.
But last summer, things were different.
I caught a child, unsupervised, running his bike through my neighbor’s flower garden.
Another group had 5 elementary school age kids who were recklessly riding their bikes, jumping the curb into the street, without looking for traffic. Also unsupervised.
In September, a group of 9 women rented the house for about 4 days.
Nearly all 9 women drove separately, and took up all the street parking for 6 lots, plus they rented 3 golf carts.
So much for peace and quiet.
Now the house next door has been sold, also to someone from Northern Virginia, and just hit VRBO before Christmas. And it appears it is already rented for the whole summer.
Plus, a house sold last fall in our block, to someone who already has other STRs in Cape Charles, so we anticipate that by summer, 3 out of 12 homes in our block will be STRs.
It is not cheap to maintain an old house.
We and our neighbors take great pride in keeping our historic homes repaired and painted, and our yards beautified with gardens and trees.
Because Cape Charles is a town, we pay taxes to both the town and Northampton county.
This past year, the tax assessment for our home, from Northampton county increased 72%.
We are retired and do not have children in the public schools, but we are happy to support the town and county, especially as relates to the k-12 schools, with our tax dollars.
We pay dearly for this sweet little piece of paradise, where we enjoy hosting family and friends and little grandchildren, but it is worth it to us.
What we do not appreciate is people who do not live here, are not part of our community, but who are making a huge profit selling the beauty, peace, quiet and safety which we cherish, and for which we pay dearly.
The only people who will benefit from SB1391 are people interested in getting rich at the expense of small communities like ours.
As newly registered voters, as of last fall, in Northampton county, you can be sure that we pay close attention to issues like this, and will not vote for someone who does not represent the interests of the people who have chosen to make the Eastern Shore our home.
There is not a house on the Eastern Shore of Va that is worth $4000.00 a week to lay you head in.
Perfectly stated, Julie!
The real-estate lobbyists that are pushing this bill are the same people that keep Virginia a “Buyer Beware State, no disclosure “…such a trust-worthy group!
Many of these short term rentals are just businesses!…basically Hotels in neighborhoods that are zoned as residential. When are the fulltime residents going to start a class action suit against the town for allowing this???
Many of these properties are titled as corporations…special financing, special insurance, business signs in the yards…if it acts like a business it must be a business.
This town can not handle the number of tourists it gets now. Small Beach, no parking, long wait times at restaurants, and employee shortages to name a few.
I support rentals but they need to be regulated. Things like % cut off of number of rental units per number of homes; parking – # of bedrooms per number of parking spots; corporate owned vs individual/family owned…and so on!
One last thing…do all of the real-estate agencies that have rental signs in front of the rental homes they manage pay a tax on that advertising signage? How is that regulated? They are signs advertising 2 businesses…oh yeah in a residentially zoned neighborhood.
The Town of Cape Charles is a little less charming every day!
Why can’t the town handle the tourists?
As I said in my comments above… small beach, no parking, 2 hour wait times for lunch, empty shelves at Food Lion, no decent
housing for service employees.
This will eventually start to give Cape Chales a bad reputation…which in turn will kill the rental market.
I have my popcorn 🍿 and am just waiting for the show.
Glad the absentee owners can’t vote locally!!
Build a parking garage.
Some towns make a name for themselves, others gain a reputation.
Making a name for themselves always seems the better long-term course of action for stability than gaining a reputation.
Check out the history of the Florida “party towns” for proof of that.
Can you expand on your statement about these short term rentals being businesses in residential areas (agree!) and homeowners bringing a class action lawsuit? Is that possible?
Anything is possible IF they can come up with a cause of action – in other words, they have to show harm unique to them, a taking, if you will, as a result of what the municipality is doing, including harming property values and quality of life, depending on the zoning, if it exists, where they are.
New Short Term rentals are prohibited in Virginia Beach, except Sandbridge and the Hotel Dristrict.
Not even Real Estate Co.’s can list rentals less than 30 days unless grandfathered before the law changed in 2021.
VB tried for several years to work out a STR overlay plan and failed.
Virginia Beach is currently being sued in circuit court over its STR zoning/land use restrictions. The case has been pending for almost a year.