Despite community objections, Greensboro zoning commission votes to approve Airbnb ordinance On March 1, roughly 50 people from Greensboro neighborhoods spoke at a special Zoning and Planning Commission meeting about a proposed ordinance “regulating” shortIan McDowell term rentals like Airbnbs. City planning manager Mike Contributor Kirkman argued that the proposed ordinance tightens restrictions on such rentals in residential neighborhoods, the majority of the public speakers alleged it makes it easier for off-site investors, realtors, and corporations to buy neighborhood homes and turn them into “mini-hotels.” This ordinance, the majority argued, will not decrease the diversity and quality of Greensboro neighborhoods, but instead, drive up long-term rents and drive out affordable housing. “The social fabric that we worked so hard to create is being destroyed over the needs of commercial interests,” said speaker Kathe Latham. “Seniors, lowincome and young, and low-wage workers are finding it increasingly difficult to find adequate affordable housing. Increasingly, teachers, public workers, and workers in the service industries are unable to live in the cities where
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they work. The limited existing rental units and homes are being gobbled up by wealthy and institutional investors to create short-term rentals, driving up costs of housing overall.” Around 30 speakers said that the ordinance as written would harm their communities by allowing people who did not live in their neighborhoods to rent out rooms or houses there. Several voiced their concern that this was being done to bring “tourists” to the Tanger Center, the Coliseum, and the proposed Friendly Market Music Hall by offering cheaper rates than downtown hotels. The majority of those speaking against the ordinance said they had no problem with their neighbors renting out space in their own homes, just as long as the owners continued to reside there. Nine people who had signed up via Zoom either were unable to log on or had problems with their audio that prevented them from speaking. Eleven either spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance or called it too restrictive. Nine of these 11 acknowledged they were in the business of short-term rentals. Real estate agent Peggy McGinty said she took pride in buying and fixing up dilapidated homes and turning them into short-term rentals. “My properties are kept up. The tenants seem to be respectful. We have soccer moms, we have swimming meets, people are coming to the Tanger Center and the Coliseum. One person comes twice a year and her mom lives two blocks away. She has a child with special needs and it’s such a blessing to her that she can walk to the home of her mom, who has cancer.” Ashley Bell, who said she lives in College Hill but owns short-term rentals in High Point and Winston-Salem, argued that “the notion that Airbnbs will be unlimited is just inflammatory language by those who want to oppose short-term rentals; this new ordinance actually proposes increased requirements for short-term rental owners.” President of the Dunleath Neighborhood Association David Wharton disagreed, and called the proposed ordinance “far weaker and vaguer” than those in Raleigh and Asheville. “Perhaps this is because the voices of regular residents were overwhelmed in the crafting of this ordinance. They were outnumbered seven to one by industry voices and city staff.”
Wharton was one of multiple speakers who called the currently-existing ordinance better than its proposed replacement. Those responsible for the proposed changes argue that the current ordinance has no provisions specifically for Airbnb-type rentals with offsite owners and managers as it only describes establishments in which the owner lives on-site. Opponents of the proposed revisions responded that the better solution is to interpret the current ordinance to mean that only short-term rentals owned and operated by someone living on the property should be allowed in residential neighborhoods. Despite the objections of the majority of speakers, the Zoning and Planning Board voted to unanimously accept the proposed ordinance as written. The ordinance will be passed on to City Council to vote on. Before the vote, Zoning and Planning Chair Sandra O’Connor asked Kirkman to respond to those who alleged “there wasn’t a fair representation” on the committee that wrote the proposed ordinance. “It was a broad variety of perspectives,” said Kirkman, who noted that it included Mike Pendergraft, “a member of the Greensboro Neighborhood Con-
gress which represents many neighborhoods within the city.” On Thursday, about a dozen community members who had spoken against the proposed ordinance met with Mayor Nancy Vaughan and District 3 representative Zack Matheny at First Presbyterian Church. These included Pendergraft, who is not in favor of the ordinance in its present form, and disagreed with Kirkman’s claim that the committee Pendergraft served on was “diverse.” So did Kathe Latham, who called the committee “mostly realtors and attorneys for realtors.” The City of Greensboro website describes the committee as a “group of short-term rental operators, neighborhood representatives, local land use attorneys, and representatives of the Realtors, builders and convention/visitors associations [that] has consulted with the City on the issue for many months.” But the 14 names listed there include only two “neighborhood representatives,” Pendergraft and “Phil Smit” (which may be a typo for Phil Smith). It also lists the following names, several misspelled, with italicized descriptions: Amanda Hodierne - Land Use Attorney/TREBIC representative; James Watterson - Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau; Mary Ben Roac -
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