Earlier this month, the Mayor and Council agreed to forward two proposed short-term rental regulations to the Ocean City Planning Commission for further review. One restriction would set a minimum length of stay for short-term rentals in the R-1 residential and MH mobile home districts, while the other would set occupancy for rentals in R-1 and MH districts to two people per bedroom plus two additional guests, and no children counted toward the limit.
As both regulations had a zoning component to them, both were presented to the town’s planning commission at a meeting last Tuesday. However, after hearing from short-term rental owners, commission members directed staff to prepare ordinances that could be presented for a public hearing.
“I think it’d be good to hear feedback on both of those,” Commissioner Joel Brous said.
Planning and Community Development Director George Bendler told the commission last week that staff were working internally to develop short-term rental regulations. He said the two before the commission were being presented for further discussion.
“We are not voting on an ordinance, we’re not enacting an ordinance,” he said. “This is basically a discussion of where we move forward with this topic.”