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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes PC 04-16-24 6 Plan Commission Minutes 4-16-24 APPROVED 6-0 absent Campagna, Grabow, & Westermeier 4. Docket No. PZ-2024-00041 OA: Non-Dwelling Short-Term Rental Standards UDO Amendment. The applicant seeks to amend the Unified Development Ordinance to establish standards and definitions for Non- Dwelling Short-Term Rentals. Filed by the Department of Community Services on behalf of the Carmel Plan Commission. Petitioner: Adrienne Keeling, Planning Administrator DOCS • Keeling provided an opening statement that summarized the rise of non-dwelling short-term rentals beginning roughly at the time of the Covid Pandemic. Non-dwelling structures include things such as pools and patios. In recent years residents of areas where these short-term rentals have occurred have lodged multiple complaints about parking, excessive noise, etc. In order to combat this issue staff proposed the addition of a new section to the UDO similar in nature to the original short-term rental section. • Non-dwelling short-term rental proposed UDO definition: Any outdoor or indoor pool, backyard patio, deck, accessory building, and other non-dwelling structure or facility that is rented or released to transient guests by a permanent resident of the property where such non-dwelling rental is located. • To be granted permission for a short-term non-dwelling rental the following requirements would need to be met: o One year (with possibility of renewal) Special Exception approval from the Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals Hearing Officer. o The owner who makes the rental must be a permanent resident that normally resides on the property. o Owner must obtain a Registered Retail Merchant Certificate from the state. o Emergency contact and info about life saving equipment posted. o Liability Insurance Certificate for $1,000,000 o The owner must remain present on the property for the duration of the rental. o Hours of operation between 10 AM and 8 PM. o Maximum group size of 10. o A limitation on the number of rentals in a given period (still to be determined). o Sufficient guest parking on the property, public on street parking not counted. o Setback requirements (still to be determined). • Staff was currently aware of approximately four such non-dwelling short-term rentals active within Carmel. Public Comments: Jill Meisenheimer – Meisenheimer questioned the role of HOAs in the process, how would the public become informed of the new rules, and how would rentals that occur without the permission of the City of Carmel be handled. Jeff Worrell (City Counciler) – Worrell explained that the current proposed ordinance came to fruition after citizens came forward to him about a particular incident in a residential neighborhood where a party with excessive noise, alcohol, and other things not appropriate for children occurred. He thanked staff and the Plan Commission for their ongoing work with the ordinance. Michael Rowe (HOA President of Spring Mill Ridge) – Rowe thanked Worrell for his support on this issue. He stated his neighborhood’s support for the new ordinance. He relayed multiple examples of parking, noise, and general nuisance problems that have arisen due to non-dwelling short-term rentals within his community. He provided various pictures and audio clips as proof. Susan Hanson – Hanson identified herself as a resident of Spring Mill Ridge. She highlighted that the proximity of Carmel to Westfield where Grand Park is located that there are often many disruptive parties with entire sports teams present. She also thought that the ordinance should be written in such a way as to require the insurance company to know they would be providing liability coverage for a residential pool rental. She believed that if that was known to them that many insurance companies would decide against covering them, such as her own who said they would not cover something like that. Andrea Vanderpool – Hanson identified herself as a resident of Spring Mill. She told the committee that one particular problem property that directly led to the rise of this ordinance, directly adjacent to her home, could during the summer hold up to four parties a day. Due to various safety concerns with parking, trash, and trespassing for years now she has 7 Plan Commission Minutes 4-16-24 been concerned for her children’s safety and often had to decide to not let them outside when such events were occurring. Petitioner Rebuttal: • Keeling provided answers to questions raised by Meisenheimer. o More restrictive HOA covenants passed would be enforceable within those communities. o Publicization of the new rules could be done by using the City’s various communication channels on social media, newsletters, etc. o Unauthorized rentals could come to the attention of staff via a complaint and the relevant code enforcement officer would begin the process of bringing them into compliance or making sure the operation is suspended. Department Report: None (covered in opening statement) Committee Comments: Minnaar: I too understand what you are going through, not with the pool situation, but with short-term renting. This is a project that is near and dear to my heart. Having to live with a commercial entity or business running in a residential neighborhood or cul-de-sac is frustrating. I too suffered from having cars parked in front of my driveway and could not get out. I went to the statehouse and fought for short term rentals and prohibition. People will tell you, “Oh you just are being a busy body, these people mean no harm!” Well, your neighbors – they have to look you in the eye. If someone is having a rowdy party and they are acting a fool you can go next door and knock on the door and tell them to knock it off, the kids can see this. You can’t do that with complete strangers and that bothers me. So, I think there is some language in there from my own experience. I ratified the covenants in my neighborhood to ban short term renting and so you got my support on this. Coleman: What if a property is owned by an entity and not an individual? Because there would not technically be a permanent resident. I don’t know how many of those we have, but if it’s an LLC or another entity. Do we not want that language to be that specific? Grechukhin: They simply would be ineligible because they would not be permanent residents. Buckler: An ordinance would be appropriate because for neighborhoods that were in existence prior to being annexed into Carmel it is really hard, if not impossible to amend our covenants. So, for that reason alone it would be great to have an ordinance, because that would supersede what we are not able to do being an annexed community with old old covenants. From an information dispersement standpoint, just remind people that there is an annual HOA membership meeting. Also, if you know already who the offenders are by monitoring the apps I am sure a friendly little visit by somebody, mailman or in- person, could help get that information out. Coleman: This may be outside the scope of our decision-making process but if you have maybe some data points on whether or not there have been multiple calls or if there have been other community resources we have had to expend on this. I would appreciate it. Hill: This talks about UDO amendment. It identifies zoning districts it affects. Are we missing residential that is covered by PUD? Are they exempt from this somehow? Keesling: This is similar to our regular short term rental ordinance. Each PUD we have not listed specifically as each PUD is its own ordinance that may or may not address this. So, in the future if a new PUD comes along and would like to address this, there would be something to model their language after but we are not retroactively amending PUDs. Hill: I’m just thinking if this moves forward and there is a communication effort how we are applying this to residential properties, yet there is some that are covered under straight zoning others by PUD that are residential uses there might be some kind of gap there potentially? Keeling: Potentially. Minnaar: Statute 36-1-24-10 talks about short term rentals for residential neighborhoods. Are you following statutorily with the PUDs, would that fall under? Not at all? Grechukhin: It would not, that is the reason for the somewhat awkward name. That statute specifically targeted dwelling units. So, we wanted to make sure we target specifically non-dwelling units different from short term rentals that Indiana Code regulates. This is very new from my research. There are only a couple of ordinances that regulate these types of activities 8 Plan Commission Minutes 4-16-24 because they only really started in 2020, a big spur of course was Covid. It is very new for a lot of communities it is coming especially in warmer places in Florida and California are starting to regulate those and some on the east coast, but its one of those things outside of short-term rentals as Indiana Code regulates them and as our UDO regulates them as well. Motion by Hill and seconded by Buckler to send to Combined Residential and Commercial Committee with final voting authority granted to the Committee. APPROVED 6-0 absent Campagna, Grabow, & Westermeier Old Business: 1. Docket No. PZ-2023-00227 PUD Amend: Jackson’s Grant Village – Daycare. The applicant seeks PUD Amendment approval to add the (previously known as) Cunningham parcel into the Jackson’s Grant Village PUD. A new Daycare use, and land swap is proposed, which will allow for 3 additional townhome units to be constructed. The site is located at 510 West 116th Street and is zoned S-2/Residence and is within the West 116th Street Overlay. Filed by Ashley Ulbricht of Taft Law on behalf of Del DeMao of DeMao Retail Consultants, LLC. Petitioner requested a continuance to the May 21st Plan Commission meeting in order to allow for time to meet with the Jackson’s Grant HOA to discuss concerns and hear input on the proposed project from the nearby residents. Motion by Kirsh and seconded by Buckler to allow for a continuance. APPROVED 6-0 absent Campagna, Grabow, & Westermeier Meeting adjourned at 8:08 p.m. _____________________________________ ________________________________________ Bric Butler PC Secretary Brad Grabow President