West Chester Borough Council grappled with how to best deal with short-term overnight rentals, such as Airbnbs. Borough solicitor Kristin Camp presented a draft ordinance to council suggesting limits on the rentals at a recent council workshop meeting. It was council’s first look at a short-term rental policy, and the draft is likely to change. Camp asked council to consider limiting short-term rentals to just the Town Center zoning district, and not the mostly residential neighborhoods. Council also mulled over whether to require renters to provide two off-street parking spaces per unit. “If we leave that parking requirement in there, a lot of properties are going to be limited due to the lack of existing off-street parking,” said Kevin Gore, the borough’s director of building and housing. The draft ordinance also suggests that no cooking facilities be located within the rooms and that the entire property be rented, with no rentals of just individual bedrooms. Renters would be limited to two guests per bedroom. Camp said that council should consider whether owners would be responsible for the actions of tenants, such as paying fines for infractions like disorderly conduct. Councilman Brian McGinnis asked if inspections might take place every 30 days. Gore said that inspections would likely take place annually, in part due to a lack of resources and the need to inspect 6,000 borough rental units annually.

Source: Daily Local; 4/20/2023