Important Meeting on Thursday 2/10 at 10 AM

Ah, the enjoyment of reading one-hundred and eight pages of draft legislation.

Neighbors,

Just wanting to send you a personal plea, encouraging you to attend upcoming City meetings if possible and to please consider speaking during the public comments. I was unable to attend the last P&Z meeting in which they initially reviewed the proposed STR ordinance, but it clear that the “preserve the neighborhood” contingent was grossly underrepresented.
P&Z has not truly heard from the neighborhood folks yet. As we know three minutes to speak is not much time, but key messages are calling upon our civic leaders to act in the best long term interest of FBG, to put the interests of residents over those of investor-speculators, that there is plenty of room for STRs in commercially-zoned areas, that we are falling further and further behind in housing supply as STRs siphon houses away, that STRs DO cause many harms to neighborhoods and our community. None of us can address all of these, but we’ll do our best to represent these truths effectively.
May we make a much more robust showing this Thursday at 10AM. Info is below. Thank you for being there if you can. Thank you for speaking during public comment if you are willing. We press on!
There is light at the end of this tunnel… not too many more of these meetings… May we not grow weary in doing good, right?

David Turpin

Did you receive a cryptic letter from Planning & Zoning in regards to the STR Ordinance?

A notice was sent to every property owner in the city. There are several ordinances that will be changed to try and get some control over the spread of short-term rentals.

When one property owner seeks to change zoning to accommodate a certain kind of development, the notice must be sent to all property owners within 200 feet of that development. In the case of STRs, if you live in the city you will get a notice because ordinance changes might affect your ability to use your home as an STR. If you already have an STR, then ordinance changes could affect your parking, noise, trash receptacles, etc.

All these sections of the ordinance have to be changed to address these issues. This should, hopefully, end up being good for the neighborhoods. The city is trying to be responsive to the citizen comments at all those forums we had and all the workshops since then.

So, we recommend circling APPROVE on the form and signing. You can also make comments on the form. Return it to City Hall.