The homes of Fort Pierce, Florida, stand along a coastline kissed by turquoise-hued waves and silhouetted against spectacular, fiery orange sunsets. Winding through the palm tree-lined streets, it’s easy to see why tens of thousands of people have chosen this place as their home, or alternatively, as their vacation destination.
Earlier this year, the city faced mounting pressure to change its conditional use permit (CUP) process for vacation rentals. The process had long drawn criticism for taking an unreasonably long time as well as being subjective, inconsistent, and vulnerable to bias.
The Florida Alliance for Vacation Rentals (FAVR), formerly known as the Florida Vacation Rental Management Association (FVRMA), was among those calling for a more streamlined process to approve vacation rentals in Fort Pierce.
“We’re all for regulations, but we want them to be fair and workable so that people have a low bar of entry, can get into the program, and register, and the city is going to get a high rate of compliance,” said Denis Hanks, executive director of FAVR. “We see these programs fail because they put such a high bar for people to follow and such an expensive entry point that people just go underground.”
A problematic conditional use permit process
The CUP process had been in place for nearly 20 years. Each permit application had to undergo hearings at City Commission meetings and a vote on first reading and second reading. The entire process took at least 90 days and up to several months. Commission meetings on one CUP application could drag on for four hours or more as the community debated whether or not it should be approved.
“I think it put the commission in a tough spot,” Denis said. “I had never seen a commission actually approve vacation rentals one-by-one like that before. Nowhere else in Florida had I seen that. It’s usually delegated to code compliance or someone else on staff so Fort Pierce was quite unusual.”
In spring 2021, the city faced more scrutiny when two Black homeowners claimed they experienced discrimination in the CUP process from the city and their neighbors. Jonathan Joseph, who is Black, was denied a conditional use permit for a rental in April because city commissioners said the road conditions near his property posed a safety hazard to guests.“The only time people have started putting up signs objecting to dwelling rentals is when people of color moved into the area and started applying for licenses,” Jonathon was quoted as saying during a City Commission meeting on April 19.
Task force investigates changes to Florida vacation rental ordinance
By then, city commissioners had already acknowledged the need for a different process for approving vacation rentals and had appointed a task force to recommend one.
While that breakthrough seemed promising, the recommendation from the task force in June 2021 raised more concerns. The recommendation included a $1,200 annual registration fee, noise regulations for vacation rentals that didn’t apply to long-term residents, and a residency requirement for property managers – all of which FAVR saw as untenable.
FAVR deploys a short-term rental advocacy team
The statewide association activated Fort Pierce members, staff, and partners from short-term rental platforms and the real estate industry to respond to the recommendation and come up with a strategy to advocate for more reasonable regulations. They drafted talking points and gathered supporting evidence and data.
FAVR established a local chapter for Fort Pierce and surrounding areas, known as the Treasure Coast. The local chapter facilitated an organized way for vacation rental operators to present their arguments to the City Commission.
While some operators spoke publicly at City Commission meetings to make their points, the co-chairs of the chapter – Larry Winter and Travis Burton – worked behind the scenes, meeting face-to-face with commissioners and city staff and bringing data to the table to back up their proposals for changes to the recommendation.
Larry owns two vacation rentals in Fort Pierce. Travis is owner and president of iTrip Vacations Treasure Coast, a property management company.
“We met with as many city commissioners that would meet with us and basically said that we thought the fee structure that they were proposing was way too high and was inconsistent with the fees other businesses had to pay for registration – even hotels that have more rooms than vacation rentals, and it was inconsistent with what other cities were charging,” Larry said.
Using data to support short-term rental regulations
Larry and Travis advocated for a $250 registration fee, scrapping the special noise rules for vacation rentals and short-term rentals, as Fort Pierce already had a general noise ordinance; and removing the residency requirements.
One of the reasons for a $1,200 annual registration fee was to raise enough revenue to pay the salaries of two additional code enforcement officers. The calculation was based on the number of vacation rental and short-term rental permits in the city, which equaled 187.
However, the alliance was able to show – using data from Key Data and other sources – that there were, in fact, 445 vacation rental listings in Fort Pierce. They argued that the CUP process had resulted in a low level of compliance. With an easier process and revenue from a more affordable registration fee, they argued, the city could achieve a higher rate of compliance. With the higher rate of compliance, the city could glean enough revenue to hire code enforcement officers to continue improving the compliance rate.
Larry and Travis also talked about the economic contribution of vacation rentals and the risk of losing out on tax revenue, as some vacation rental owners sold their property in Fort Pierce and bought vacation rentals in unincorporated St. Lucie County, where regulations were more favorable.
“The person that stays in a vacation rental goes and plays golf in your community, they rent a boat, they go fishing, they go kayaking, so the city gets indirect tax dollars off of that,” Larry argued to commissioners. To learn more about vacation rental data you need and where to find it, check out our article here >>
A new short-term rental ordinance
While FAVR didn’t get everything it wanted, the City Commission did scratch the special noise rules and residency requirement. They eliminated the CUP process and replaced it with a registration process, compromising on an annual fee of $600 per year. The new process will take no more than 30 days, and city staff will decide whether the applicant meets requirements to be a vacation rental or short-term rental. The new ordinance defines vacation rentals as 30 days or less and short-term rentals as one to six months. The new ordinance took effect Aug. 3.
Takeaways from the Fort Pierce FAVR effort
As a vacation rental operator, what can you take away from FAVR’s experience in Fort Pierce?
While not every state has an alliance like FAVR, local operator groups can follow their approach to advocacy, Denis said.
Tips for successful advocacy during a regulatory battle:
- Form a local alliance of vacation rental operators. This will allow you to coordinate your advocacy efforts.
- Foster relationships with decision-makers. One of FAVR’s keys to success in advocacy was building relationships with city commissioners. Sit down with your elected officials and introduce yourself and what you do.
“Let them know who you are because we know that the neighbors who are complaining are already there, so you need to have your voice heard as well,” Denis said. “Just tell your story.”
- Bring data, evidence, and past court rulings to the debate. In some cases, proposed ordinances are based on incomplete information. If your local authorities haven’t done the research, bring them the facts. Companies like Key Data and AirDNA provide statistics that can help shed light on what’s going on with vacation rentals in your community and how to best approach regulating them.
