CUMMING, Ga. — The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will hold its regular meeting on Thursday, March 7th, but this time a large crowd is expected for the public hearing in which short-term rentals will once again be discussed. People on both sides of the issue have been going head to head over this for over a year.
Steve Guello is one of many Air BNB host's pulling for property rights, he feels the restrictions on short-term rentals will have a negative impact overall.
“It's going to affect real estate horribly, because people that buy, they buy for a second home more than half the time,” Guello said. “I'm not going to buy a second home that I'm restricted to where, if I'm not going to be there, I can't rent it out to somebody else. Or my life changes and I can't put it on a rental market just like any other piece of real estate.”
The issue, which is currently listed second under Public Hearings on the agenda, reads "Public Hearing regarding proposed amendments to the Unified Development Code (UDC) of Forsyth County, specifically, to establish short term rental as a conditional use for certain residential and agricultural properties; to provide for relevant definitions; to establish criteria for the consideration of granting conditional use permits for short term rental; to set forth zoning districts eligible for conditional use permits for short term rental; to repeal conflicting ordinances; and for other purposes – County Attorney"
Steve Paul, on the other hand, is hoping restrictions get put in place, saying he thinks short-term rental should be banned (or at least capped) in residential neighborhoods.
“We're not trying to shut anybody down. We just don't want it in our neighborhood,” Paul stated.
VRBO is short for Vacation Rentals By Owner. Airbnb is just one type of VRBO, but it’s one that Paul said has gotten out of control in his own neighborhood.
“We were having several transients coming in every single weekend and leaving that particular piece of property maybe in a not so desirable situation,” he said. “You can say ‘I don't think it would bother me,’ but you don't know until it happens to you. It's happened to us, and we're taking a stand to do something about it.”
Guello and Paul both said they plan to be at the meeting Thursday night.
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