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In blog posts last year (available HERE and HERE), we reviewed the challenges that municipalities face in regulating short-term rentals under existing zoning ordinances that do not specifically address the use.  One case we discussed was Slice of Life, LLC v. Hamilton Township Zoning Hearing Board, 164 A.3d 633 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2017).  The Commonwealth Court’s decision in Slice of Life was appealed and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently reversed the Commonwealth Court’s decision.

In Slice of Life, the Township issued an enforcement notice to the property owner alleging that the property was being used as a hotel or other type of transient lodging in violation of the zoning ordinance.  According to the zoning ordinance, single-family residential was the only permitted use in the underlying zoning district.  The Township’s zoning ordinance defined the term “family” as
Continue Reading **UPDATE** Regulating Short-Term Rentals – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Weighs In

Recently, Frank Chlebnikow, AICP and I co-presented a program entitled “Finding Valuable Commercial Space Under Parking Lots” at the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors’ 97th Annual Educational Conference.  The program discussed problems (and potential solutions) many communities are experiencing due to the increasing amount of vacant retail spaces in shopping malls and big-box retail stores.  Most communities experience impacts such as a stagnating/declining tax base and operating revenue shortfalls, leading to a reduction in municipal services, loss of businesses and residents, limited property reinvestment, and increasing tax rates.  But mature, built-out suburban and urban communities must also deal with the lack of undeveloped land, aging and inadequately maintained infrastructure, traffic congestion and addressing stormwater runoff issues while complying with federal/state mandates.

One thing is certain, the traditional mall and suburban commercial corridor model (a “shopping mall”) that includes one or more sprawling, single-story buildings dominated by retail and department store tenants surrounded by seas of parking lots, is not the future.
Continue Reading Shopping Malls: This Ain’t the Dawn of the Dead

This Blog previously discussed the headaches created for municipalities and their residents when zoning ordinances are not updated to account for short-term rentals, such as AirBNB and VRBO. But what do municipalities need to do to update their zoning ordinances? What thought processes should be followed? And what other new uses are primed to create – or are already creating – interpretational issues like those created by short-term rentals? This post, and others that will follow, answers those questions. After reading this post, I encourage you to go back and read our prior posts on two short-term rental cases that are case studies for what happens when zoning ordinances are not updated to account for new uses. In addition, please continue to check back over the following months as I introduce our readers to new uses that may not be adequately considered by municipal zoning ordinances.
Continue Reading Updating Antiquated Zoning Ordinances: Educate. Evaluate. Amend.

With four million Airbnb listings worldwide, this rapidly growing short-term rental (STR) site and others like it have property owners, neighborhood groups, local government, and the real estate industry running in circles – and looking for a vacation spot. In the case of STRs, hosts are enjoying extra income and municipalities are keeping properties on the tax roll, while some nearby property owners are seeing a spike in their local rental rates or disruption to neighborhoods. In this post, the second in a two-post series (See “Regulating Short-Term Rentals,” by Jamie Strong), we discuss a case out of Lackawanna County decided this past December. The case of interest in this post was decided approximately six months after a case out of Monroe County – now on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court – was decided by the Commonwealth Court.
Continue Reading Short-Term Rentals: When an AirBnB is not really a B&B

The short-term rental (STR) market for using peer to peer rental services such as Airbnb and VRBO has grown significantly in recent years. These services allow property owners to realize the economic benefit of renting all or part of their properties as an STR.   However, there are corresponding concerns raised by neighboring property owners who feel STRs could result in the loss of a sense of community given the transient nature of such a use. The biggest challenge for a municipality that wants to regulate STRs has been attempting to regulate the use under an existing zoning ordinance that does not specifically address the use.

Recent Commonwealth Court cases, most originating in Monroe County, highlight the difficulty that municipalities have in attempting to regulate STRs under zoning ordinances that do not specifically address the use.
Continue Reading Regulating Short-Term Rentals