Let’s get ready to regulate.

That is the message Marco Island’s Rental Housing Advisory Committee sent to city staff Wednesday evening, as they took their first big step with a unanimous vote to include registration of short-term rental properties as a recommendation to City Council.

While the committee cannot enact new city ordinances, the members can craft recommendations to be considered by City Council. Wednesday’s meeting was the third between the dozen or so members on the panel, formed to establish some solutions to the problem of repeat nightmare rentals on the island.

City staff, including fire, police and code compliance chiefs, have reported at all three meetings that the tools to regulate rental properties on a local level are virtually nonexistent. Though resort rental property owners are required to register with the state, said Code Compliance Chief Eric Wardle, only 25 permits exist for such properties on the island.

While each permit can have multiple properties, Wardle and members of the committee all agreed that there are likely many property owners flying under the radar.

Additionally, state fire code inspection requirements parse nearly all responsibility out to local fire departments. Those departments, in turn, do not have a complete list of the subject properties, said Fire Chief Mike Murphy.

While conversation occasionally got mired in the minutiae of regulation, Community Development Director Steve Olmsted told the committee members they are well on their way to giving the city more material to work with than at present.

“I think the fact that you’ve decided you want them to be registered is a huge first step,” he said.

Committee members also voted unanimously to impose a “nominal fee” upon the registered properties, which will be defined as resort rentals if the owner rents or seeks to rent the home out more than three times within a year for periods of less than 30 days.

The motion that passed would tentatively assign a $100 annual registration fee, but may be subject to change depending on recommendations of staff at the next meeting, scheduled for April 2 at 7 p.m. City Staff cautioned the committee that in order to perform inspections and enforce rules, the city would need more resources. Additionally, the city could face problems of follow through if expenses bump up against the three percent spending cap.

Olmsted said he would look into the creation of a fund through the Building Inspection Department — which is not subject to the cap — in order to take the funds generated through registration and put them solely toward inspections and enforcement.

Murphy said he would recommend that the enforcement of fire codes be privatized, and contracted out to a retired fire marshal.

Conversation frequently went back to the monumental task of identifying every short-term rental property on Marco Island, compounded by the fact that Collier County is bound by state law to keep tax records confidential for those property owners registered as short-term rental owners.

Committee member Keith Dameron suggested considering a rolling period of open registration, with owners being gently urged to come forward during a grace period before the city enacts more stringent requirements, with the possibility of internet searches for unregistered rental listings and neighbor referrals.

At the April 2 meeting, the committee will review recommendations by city staff on necessary funding for enforcement, as well as establish a framework for future meetings in order to tackle one issue at a time. Future topics identified include: requirements for registration, maximum renter occupancies and rental terms — for example, whether rentals should be limited to seven days or another period.

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