Submitted By; Janice Mandel
A new group involving more than 50 Davis Corp property owners has formed an alliance to advocate for fair rental regulations, with an initial focus on potential economic harms to local businesses caused by the moratorium on short-term rentals enacted last September by the Davis Town Council.
The group, the Davis Rental Property Owners Alliance, welcomes participation from other Davis Corp property owners who are unaffiliated with a government entity.
A moratorium on Short Term Rental (STR) passed by the Council in September of 2021 is currently in effect. Concerns over Town Council’s plans intensified when the first draft of the Short Term Rental Ordinance, which would impose a series of new restrictions on property uses, was read aloud to a small group of attendees in the Town Hall Meeting on January 12, 2022.
“Housing and economic dynamics in destination areas such as Tucker County always need to be approached with careful consideration by all stakeholders,” said local resident Emily Carlson, an Alliance member who is the Landscape Architecture Designer and Facilitator with Dialogue + Design Associates, “The proposed STR regulations penalize entrepreneurial West Virginians who take pride themselves in helping to build the economy in the place they love, without due diligence of proactive and balanced planning the county and our communities. “
Alliance members argue that Davis businesses see higher revenues when visitors can book short term rentals right in town – and that local businesses with higher revenues can pay higher wages and offer more consistent employment.
The current surge nationwide in the popularity of mountain biking partly explains recent growth in the Davis area. “Understanding Mountain Bike Tourism,” a 2019 study of Davis and other markets by Downstream Strategies, cited evidence that found that the average overnight visitor spends six times more than a day visitor. Eric Cvechko, owner of Blackwater Bikes in downtown Davis agrees.
“The miles and variety of trails here have reached critical mass, and 90% of the trailheads are a short ride from downtown Davis,” he said. “Mountain bike tourism revenues from short term rental homes are not only good for my shop. Mountain bikers dine and shop more while staying in Davis short term rentals.”
Davis resident Jessica Luscombe, who owns The Wandering Caravan boutique, said “visitors who stay in Davis spend in Davis.”
“Most visitors are seeking an experience that only short term rentals offer,” she said. “Overnight visitors are on foot and not adding to our parking problems, and because they are here during more of my business hours, they spend more per visitor, per day.”
Many Alliance members favor free-market solutions over restrictions.
“I applaud the Davis town council’s effort to understand and embrace the economic and social changes taking place in our community,” said part-time Davis resident and STR host Catherine Fleichman. “The marketplace takes care of itself. It is up to social and government institutions and relationships to take care of each of us by using the marketplace. “
Dan Hayes, owner of Riverfront Wood Fired Pizza in Thomas, wants his diners as close by as possible.
“As a restaurant owner in Thomas, we all welcome and count on short term renters to come from both Davis and Thomas to support all the local shops and restaurants,” he said. “Eliminating Davis short term rentals forces more people out to Canaan Valley and away from local business owners.”
Real estate values also can suffer from short term rental restrictions, said Annie Snyder, a local realtor with Landis Realty.
“Any laws impacting rentals by owners could influence sales and value of properties in Davis in the future,” she said.
Historically, Davis has not restricted property uses and construction. The first restrictive ordinance passed by the Council last year restricts construction options for owners, including eliminating the option to build an Accessory Dwelling Unit on the same lot as your home. Town Council announced it will read the STR ordinance to attendees again in its meeting on Wednesday, January 26th.
While many Davis owners are against any property use restrictions whatsoever, most members of the Davis Rental Property Owners Alliance are supportive of broader zoning as Davis grows. But the group opposes the selective use of zoning to target short term rentals.
Effie McCauley, a Davis resident, single mother and school counselor helping high risk students, was surprised by the Town’s short-term rental moratorium.
After ensuring her tax and licensing compliance, and several hearings at Town Hall, she was granted an exemption and allowed to resume renting her home with a 4:3 Town Council vote.
“I have found renting my home through Airbnb has provided my family much needed supplemental income,” she said. “It should be everyone’s right to have the same options with their property, whether as a long term lease or as a temporary solution for income.”
“I am concerned about other rules,” she added, “such as banning Davis residents from building a garage apartment or mother-in-law cottage on their property. Wouldn’t encouraging folks to build additional dwelling units help our worker housing issues? Where is the evidence Airbnb renters are a problem? As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Removing rights over one’s property should be based on facts that prove a need for change.”
In 2019, Governor Jim Justice signed into law a Home Sharing Protection Law (SB4), that prohibits WV towns from passing regulations that “prohibit or limit the rental of a property” or “regulate the duration, frequency, or location of such rental.”
West Virginia’s action to ensure state protection of home sharing marks a growing U.S. trend. Other states such as Arizona, Indiana, Idaho, Florida and Tennessee have all implemented similar rules to protect short term rentals from being overly restricted by local governments. Because Davis has not opted into the state’s Home Rule Program, some legal opinions argue that Davis is exempt from SB4 and may thus regulate home sharing.
“Alliance members who rent their properties short term pay state and town lodging taxes, and most are on board with some type of STR regulation,” said Pete Johnson, owner of Davis Riverwalk and other downtown properties. “But this new draft ordinance seems to put the cart ahead of the horse. In my 20 years of knowing Davis, it has seemed that rules restricting what can be done with which properties has been rare. This draft ordinance implies there will be future zoning and regulation that impacts all Davis real estate and businesses, and I’m not sure everyone realizes that.”
The Town of Thomas has sponsored an update of a county-wide small business and housing needs assessment that could shed light on how short- term rentals interact with overall housing needs. The study has historically been conducted by Woodlands Development and Downstream Strategies. This update is in limited circulation and due to be broadly released soon.
“Davis should slow down their decision-making process and wait for the housing assessment from Downstream Strategies,” said Craig O’Connor, a Davis property owner and past resident. “It’s analyzed a lot of data on Tucker County. That study should be reviewed by the Council of Davis and all residents before restricting or limiting Short Term Rentals in Davis in ways that will affect all people living in Davis. Rushing forward could have negative unexpected consequences.”
Alliance members question whether the Town Council has adequately kept the public informed of its plans regarding zoning and property restrictions. Unless residents attend Town Hall meetings, which only a few do, Facebook has been the only place to find information on the new regulations. To help raise overall awareness, the Alliance has published its appeal for fair regulation as an online petition and has distributed flyers with copies of the STR ordinances to residents and owners.
This is not a unique issue and is happening all across America. It is good to remember that a moratorium is different than an outright ban. A moratorium suspends or pauses something. In this case it appears to be used to buy time to make a solution to a problem. There is a problem and Davis is trying to address it. I am not surprised that STR businesses are organized against this although I have not seen much in the way of what they do support with regards to STR regulation. This article focuses solely on rental businesses (most that are not residents, I’d wager) but hardly mentions those affected by the impacts of STR’s, which are mostly local residents and workers who are needed to keep the tourism economy humming along that are being squeezed out of the towns they live in (or used to live in). I hope there will be a follow up on this to describe the full picture of what is happening because this article does not do that.