Raleigh task force votes on Airbnb regulation
RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Rob Bucklin was one of several people holding up yellow signs and wearing yellow badges that urged members of a task force in room 303 of city hall to vote for "Option B."
The Short Term Rental Task Force, chosen by the Raleigh City Council, met for the 10th time to lay out two options, A and B.
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- Option A allows people to rent out rooms or their home while they are away on services such as Airbnb, as long as they have a permit from the city to do so. It would also allow people to rent out investment properties in areas zoned as mixed-use, not residential.
- Option B allows the same permitting process for rooms and homes, but it would allow people to continue renting out investment properties in residential areas for one year, while city leaders collect more information.
"Get data, hear from neighbors next to short-term rentals and just ask is this something that is working in your neighborhood, are you having problems," said Brent Woodcox, co-chair of the task force. "That we can help the good actors be separated from the bad actors and then a year from now hopefully the city council with more information can make a detailed and good decision on what's best for Raleigh."
Bucklin supports this.
"We have a townhouse which is looked at as a whole-house unit and we think that Raleigh needs more of those to be available in residential areas," Bucklin said.
Not everyone in the 16-member task force was present at the meeting but in an 8 to 5 vote they voted in Option B.
Those against the option equate these rentals as businesses operating right next door and they worry about investors buying up homes in their neighborhoods.
"If the city council wants to put in something that says you have to live in Raleigh to own a property to do this then I think that's fine," Bucklin said.
The vote to recommend Option B to the city council, is just that, a recommendation. The council is scheduled to discuss the issue June 6.
