Clay Township pressing pause on vacation rental rules after concerns from property owners

As the summer tourist season winds up, Clay Township officials are mulling over rules for short-term or vacation rentals.

The township board of trustees tabled discussion of adopting an ordinance on Monday after some rental property owners expressed concern that the draft went too far — with rules including the number of occupants allowed per bedroom, the number of smoke alarms and the kind of driveway required.

On Wednesday, Clay Township Supervisor Artie Bryson said he wasn’t sure at which meeting the discussion will come back to the board but added it will likely be in June. Board officials earlier in the week agreed first to try and confer with rental owners about finding a happy medium.

“I definitely think the language can be cleaned up better. There’s some places it’s ambiguous. I will agree — I’m a (much) bigger fan of short-term rentals than long-term rentals. Short-term rentals, they do better upkeep of their property because the customers can also rate them as then rent them,” Bryson said Monday, referring to online vacation rental sites like Airbnb.

“I’ve done it several times myself all over the U.S. … And by all honesty, everybody knows I’m not a real big fan of ordinances, but I do think we need a long-term rental ordinance, too, because we have issues with safety and (nuisance complaint) issues that go on.”

Earlier in this year, residents along a couple of private drives — namely, Inglewood and Lake, where the homes are in close proximity to one another — complained to the township’s planning commission about the need for short-term rental rules and a system to enforce them.

According to February planning meeting minutes, Inglewood residents William and Karen Odam requested help eliminating non-stop, year-round rentals on their street where they felt property owners were making money at neighbors’ expense.

None of those residents appeared at Monday’s meetings, but board members said they understood why some neighbors were upset.

“I try to put myself in everyone’s shoes. That would be a nightmare to live through what they say they’re living through,” said Clay Treasurer Kristi Hiltunen. “Thirty people in a house. They’re taking up the canal with floaties. They’re driving all over their landscape. I mean, people spend thousands of dollars on landscaping, and then, to have somebody try and jam cars in there, that would be a nightmare.”

When asked about the number of vacation rentals in the area, Bryson said he’s seen over 100 online, though officials said the problem wasn’t necessarily townshipwide.  

Trustee Maureen Boury said she thought they would only need an entire ordinance “if it were a more widespread problem,” recommending just requiring rentals register with the township instead.

Despite complaints, Hiltunen and other board members also acknowledged that there were plenty of “responsible rental owners” in those areas.

Several Ira Township residents who own rental properties in Clay spoke out about proposed rules — citing a mirrored discussion in their own community.  

Ira Supervisor Jim Endres confirmed the township board had tabled its own ordinance for "further review." He said the planning commission had worked on the issue for more than a year. 

"Residents had complaints and questions mostly about parking, limiting the number of short-term rentals in certain areas, and some other slight concerns," he said in an email. "Our planning commission through our planner back then had discussed the western side of the state where short-term rentals were becoming prevalent in waterside communities." 

Rental owners: Some factors are none of the township’s business   

Mark and Joyce McLennan still own and rent out their former family home on Inglewood Drive. They live in Ira currently.

Mark McLennan said they rent it out in the summer and also like to keep it for when family returns to the area to visit and enjoy the water.

Under the proposed ordinance, however, he said they wouldn’t be able to host all family members.

According to the draft, registered short-term rentals in a single-family dwelling could not include more than four bedrooms, and no more than two occupants would be allowed to sleep in each. But McLennan said, “I’m overcapacity at my own house where they grew up.”

It would also require all parking onsite to be within a garage or a paved driveway. McLennan and other rental owners questioned the requirement in the case some property owners may prefer to maintain gravel or allow visitors’ boats on the grass.

“It really is none of your business how we park as long as it’s on the property,” McLennan said. “… One guest has boats, one guest doesn’t. We have to be accommodating to take care of their needs.”

He also pushed back against smoke detector requirements — something he said would be required by insurance checkers. “Guess what? Vrbo and Airbnb ask for that,” he said.

In response to concerns, officials recommended re-approaching driveway and bedroom requirements.                                                                                                                      

Several rental owners said they hoped to work more with township officials on the requirements.

Bryson told them, “I think we all want the same thing. It’s just how we get there.”

Casco Township resident Kris Dombrowksi, who owns property on Dyke Road, said allowing and investing in short-term rentals was also just good for township business.

She said they first opened to renters in the summer of 2016 and get a lot of repeat visitors.                                                                                        

“People love to come here,” Dombrowski said. “If you were at my place right now, there would be people sitting around the picnic table, talking about their day, talking about boats, talking about when they’re coming back.

“I have someone there right now who last summer, he was here for five weeks — not continuously (but) a week here, two weeks there. I said, ‘Mark, how much vacation time (do) you get?’ I mean, he’s like a brother to me now. He’s there all the time. He has six or seven weeks. He’s from Cincinnati, and he loves Lake St. Clair. I saw him today. I said, ‘You getting ready to go out?’ He says, ‘I’m going to the state park to ride my mountain bike.’ He doesn’t come here just for fishing. He comes here to get away.”                                                                                                                   

Contact Jackie Smith at jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.