Planning officials recommended Monday that Wilmington create a clearer definition for short-term rentals and formulate a process to register, permit and track those rentals.

The city council heard the suggestions during a work session Monday morning after its agenda briefing.

Associate city planner Bethany Windle said that in a non-scientific, online survey, to which the city received 547 responses, "A majority of respondents believe short-term rentals should be allowed to operate anywhere in the city" with no minimum stay and no registration required.

Public meeting comments and hard-copy surveys differed, with many in favor of regulating short-term rentals without eliminating them altogether. 

Currently, there is no specific definition of "short-term rental" in the city's Land Development Code. The city's staff has been applying the LDC's definitions for "housing unit" and "family" instead, resulting in a policy that the required rental period for any portion or all of a house must be seven days and that short-term rentals be limited to no more than three unrelated people, including the primary tenant of a home.

At Monday's session, councilman Kevin O'Grady reiterated his opinion that short-term rentals be kept out of residential areas.

"To me, residential means every one of those housing units should be a residential use. A resident is somebody who lives there permanently," O'Grady said. " ... We can't have investments where we just have transients moving through the houses because that's not residential, that's commercial. Now you're just churning through in order to generate income, and that's not residential use."

City attorney Bill Wolack said in his opinion, the city cannot completely do away with short-term rentals but can "zone them into particular districts."

Mayor Bill Saffo said he believes Wilmington does need some sort of regulatory process for the growing industry. He said he thinks that at the very least, the city should require those who offer short-term rentals to register if complaint-based enforcement continues.

Saffo also said he wants to know, if officials end up deciding to not allow short-term rentals in residential areas, where else in the city they might be allowed to operate.

Windle's reply was that she thinks specifying where short-term rentals could operate would be part of a potential "short-term rentals" definition in the LDC. 

Some council members questioned how short-term rental regulations would be enforced if adopted, asking how Asheville enforces its ordinance. 

The mountain town and popular tourist spot began researching the issue of short-term rentals in August 2013, and regulations were adopted in November 2015, according to a benchmark report by the city of Wilmington's planning staff. 

'"'Homestay' is the definition used, meaning a private, resident occupied dwelling, with up to two guest rooms where overnight lodging accommodations are provided to transients for compensation and where the use is subordinate and incidental to the main residential use of the building. A homestay is considered a 'lodging' use under the code. This means that a homestay is considered a commercial activity that is occurring in a residential structure," the benchmark study said. "Short-term rentals are permitted by-right in non-residential districts and are not permitted in any residential districts. There is no grandfathering of non-conforming uses, with the exception of 11 historic vacation rental cottages built in the 1940s that have been in continual operation and allowed to continue as non-conforming uses."

Asheville enforces the regulations through steep fines, O'Grady said Monday. 

The benchmark city report said, "A full-time staff position was added [to Asheville's staff] to handle homestay regulation and short-term rental compliance, with some proactive regulation and enforcement activity. Fines for illegal rentals were recently increased to $500/day after an initial 30-day grace period in which offenders are given the opportunity to comply. Asheville’s regulations are currently being considered for additional amendments to expand homestays to allow the use of accessory dwelling units as part of a homestay operation," according to the benchmark report, which was completed earlier this year.

Councilman Charlie Rivenbark said he doesn't think it makes sense to adopt an ordinance related to short-term rentals that is completely unenforceable. Councilwoman Margaret Haynes asked for a better understanding of where short-term rentals are currently located in the city; the city staff has loosely estimated that there are around 200 or so, based on studying online sites where such rentals are booked, including airbnb.com and VRBO.com. 

After the work session in Wilmington on Monday morning, city planner Christine Hughes said in an email that the city staff will be providing the additional information that city council members asked for. City staff members are also expected to continue working on a potential proposal related to short-term rentals.

"We're not alone in facing that problem. Cities in this state and all over the world have been trying to get a handle on this," O'Grady said after Monday's session. "I think the longer you let it go, the more contentious the issue will become because people are now aware of the issue and they're seeing it more."