Lakewood Ranch and other unincorporated Manatee County neighborhoods dealing with short-term rental complaints are getting a two-pronged response from county commissioners.
Commissioners choose enforcement and new rules
The board directed staff to enforce existing noise, trash and parking rules while drafting a new ordinance that would require roughly 3,000 short-term rental properties to register and pay application, inspection and renewal fees, Your Observer reported.
The decision followed a Sept. 2 work session where residents and rental owners offered competing views on how the county should handle complaints about noise, parking and overcrowding. County staff had presented two options: update and enforce existing ordinances, or create a new short-term rental registration program. Commissioners chose both.
Commissioner George Kruse said the registration program should pay for itself through fees on rental owners.
County to add code enforcement staff
To address an immediate enforcement backlog, the county plans to unfreeze five code enforcement vacancies. Manatee County enacted a hiring freeze in February, and code enforcement is now 250 inspections behind.
"It takes us a week to get somewhere," Development Services Director Nicole Knapp said.
Knapp said she would return within 30 to 45 days with a transition plan covering what can be done now, because drafting and passing a full ordinance will take months. The county attorney's office and Development Services are also reviewing a legal brief submitted by Manatee Concerned Residents, a community group with more than 1,200 Facebook members formed in June.
Residents cite decades-old zoning language
The group argues short-term rentals are already prohibited in single-family residential zones under language in the county's land development code dating to 1990. That code defines a "dwelling" as excluding "any temporary lodging, boarding or rooming building or structure designed for transient residence." In a guest column in The Bradenton Journal, the group contended this pre-2011 restriction survives state preemption under Florida Statute Section 509.032(7)(b).
Commissioners split on retroactive enforcement
Commission Chair Tal Siddique said at the work session that the code "seemed pretty clear cut" and that transient use should not be allowed in zones that don't list it as permitted.
Kruse disagreed. He argued the county let 15 years pass while property owners invested in short-term rentals and warned that retroactive enforcement would lead to costly lawsuits.
Residents, owners both testified at meetings
District 3 resident Richard Hicks, a member of Manatee Concerned Residents, broke down in tears at the Sept. 2 session while describing the impact of a neighboring rental. At the Sept. 1 regular commission meeting, another resident told commissioners her quiet neighborhood was no longer quiet because the house next door became a short-term rental, according to commission notes published by The Bradenton Times.
Short-term rental owner Liz Cho told commissioners she understood residents' frustrations and said responsible hosts want regulations that target problem properties.
Funding and timeline for next steps
Funding for the enforcement push will come from the county's general fund. The 30-to-45-day window from the Sept. 2 session points to a staff update in mid-to-late October.
