More Beaufort vacation rentals approved as city considers rules

The Beaufort panel tasked with approving or denying requests to operate vacation rentals will continue using its same criteria until advised otherwise, the board’s members said Monday.

Requests to operate short-term rentals in residential areas of Beaufort continue to grow as the city considers its current rules. The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals approved four more applications to operate the rentals Monday — on Greene Street, Pigeon Point Road, Waters Edge Court and Audusta Place.

The city plans to form a panel to study possible changes to its current rules, and the zoning board wants a spot at the table.

“I don’t think it would be helpful if it gets punted back to us with the same set of criteria,” zoning board member Josh Gibson said Monday. “We should be doing more (true) special exceptions and not so many from the get-go.”

The short-term rentals are defined by the city as properties rented fewer than 30 days. The practice is allowed in commercial areas but requires an exception in residential areas, granted by a zoning board vote.

Since 2011, 26 of the rentals have been approved by special exception, as of December. Of those, 22 are still in operation, planning director Libby Anderson said Monday.

The zoning board has asked for direction as the number of requests has risen. Seventeen special exceptions to operate short-term rentals were requested in 2015, as many as the previous five years combined.

Mayor Billy Keyserling and city manager Bill Prokop have directed those interested in joining a panel to study the issue to email the city. A Historic Beaufort Short-Term Rental Association has formed to represent the operators’ interests.

Supporters of the rentals say they represent a large investment in the city and draw many customers who eventually buy a home here. Others say too many rentals in one area detracts from a neighborhood and raises noise and safety issues.

Al Hefner, whose property at 1104 Greene St. was approved Monday, told City Council this month the properties are among the nicest in the city. Hefner’s Greene Street home was renovated by his son, Beaufort architect Ashley Hefner, and featured in “This Old House” magazine.

Short-term rentals are often better kept than longer rentals, Al Hefner said Monday.

“Because you’re there checking on it all the time,” Hefner said, “You get a lot more involvement by the owners.”

Residents of the Old Commons neighborhood wrote the city asking to halt approvals of the rentals until the rules could be addressed. Hefner said the residents should be careful what they ask for, that they would be keeping high-quality properties from the neighborhood.

“When you do a short-term rental, everything has to be perfect,” he said.

There does seem to be a point where the rentals will saturate the market, zoning board member Tim Wood said.

Rod Mattingly, with the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Association, said the new panel might consider rules similar to those in a draft of Beaufort’s new code, that bed and breakfasts must be spaced at least 500 feet apart.

“There will be a point you can have too many,” Mattingly said. “Right now it’s very positive overall to the city.”

1104 Greene St.

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 10:15 AM with the headline "More Beaufort vacation rentals approved as city considers rules."