Council approves first Short-Term Rental permit under new ordinance guidelines over some objections

As noted in our lead story on the Data Center permitting discussion, there were two issues involving the long-term impact on land use in town at the Front Royal Town Council’s June 27 meeting. The second of those, actually first up on the public hearing docket, was approval of Alexandria-based Bridget Scanlan’s Special Use Permit (SUP) request for a maximum four-person Short-Term Tourist Rental at 108 Virginia Avenue at its three-way intersection with First Street. A second Short-Term Rental permitting request for 201 East Main Street in the downtown mixed commercial-residential zoned area was also approved, with no speakers or opposition expressed.

However, that was not the case with the Virginia Avenue request which drew 17 public hearing speakers, 11 opposed to the use in the Residential-3 zoned neighborhood. Some neighboring residents, beginning with Viviano Rodriguez, cited concerns about public safety from short-term visitors being brought into the neighborhood. Setting the general tone for coming opposition speakers, utilizing charts and photos Rodriguez pointed to statistics indicating Air B&B operations leading to increased crime rates in some locales. He also noted a lack of sidewalks on the one-way, narrow downhill section of First Street intersecting with Virginia Avenue at Scanlan’s property, presenting additional danger, particularly to children and the elderly.

Noting the property owner’s out-of-county residence, Rodriguez warned that approval of this first permit under the Town’s new short-term rental code would set the stage for Front Royal to “become a property management city”. Rodriguez also said that Scanlan had been doing short-term rentals out of the property without a permit for a year, which he interpreted as disregard for codes and the law.

Neighbor Viviano Rodriguez brought support material for his presentation against the Scanlan Short-Term Rental SUP application. But how much of his material really addressed his neighbor’s proposal several, including Councilwoman Letasha Thompson, asked. The first to break the tide of opposition was Michael Williams, below, who asked if any neighbors had filed complaints when the property was being used for short-term rentals prior to the owner become aware she was unpermitted.

After four successive speakers against the permitting, Michael William was the first to raise questions about the public safety and neighborhood danger claims. He asked if there had been any complaints or police calls to the property when it was being operated previously without permitting. None were ever cited by any opposition speaker. Later, along that same theme next to last speaker Doug Ichiuji, a 20-year town resident and First Street neighbor of the applicant and her property, also raised issues about the general nature of many of the opposition remarks.

Ichiuji sad he had not seen the sort of traffic safety issues raised by previous speakers during his time there. He also pointed out council was being asked to judge Ms. Scalan’s application, not use it as a measuring stick for the overall value of short-term rentals as a special permit use. The Town passed a Short-Term Rental Ordinance with guidelines – Does Scanlan’s request fit within those guidelines was the question before council, Ichiuji pointed out.

Ichiuji estimated that the applicant spent over 50% of her time at her secondary residence on Virginia Avenue. He said he kept an eye on the property for her when she wasn’t there, as neighbors in the area do for each other. He pointed to nearby long-term rental apartments and wondered if their occupants were vetted as well as short-term rental clients often are. An answer was on the horizon.

Speaking in support of the application, neighbor and friend of applicant, Doug Ichiuji, reminded council the matter before them wasn’t theories on long-term implications of short-term rentals, but whether Ms. Scanlan’s application complied with their recently passed Short-Term Rental Ordinance. The consensus, after hearing all speakers, including applicant Bridget Scanlan, below, was a 5-0 ‘yes’.

Following Ichiuji to the podium was final speaker, applicant Bridget Scanlan. She assured council her plan in renting two of the home’s four bedrooms out to a maximum of four people at a time from late spring through autumn was not intended to make the neighborhood less safe. She purchased the home in 2018 to be an eventual retirement home, and as Ichiuji had previously told council, had invested in improvements to the property, with that eventual primary residence goal in mind. She also said she had met 13 of 21 nearby residents, all of whom had signed a petition of support of her application. She added that she was thinking of imposing a 5 or even 7-day minimum rental period, to minimize turnover and potentially attract renters with some business or other ties to the area.

Following the closing of the public hearing, several questions were directed by council to staff, including Planning Director Lauren Kopishki, Town Police Captain Jason Ryman, and Planning Commission Chairman Darryl Merchant, who was present as a citizen to address another public hearing topic as noted in our previous story.

Planning Director Kopishke said site inspection indicated that there was adequate on-site parking for four vehicles and that traffic was not seen as a dangerous consequence of the use by the planning department. In fact, responding to a question Kopishke said the applicant was “in compliance” with the town ordinance as approved by council.

Responding to questions about the planning commission’s recommendation of denial, Merchant said the major concern was that short-term rentals in town should be in owner-occupied residences to prevent the kind of out-of-area ownership/management trend Rodriguez had worried about. However, with Scanlan’s part-time presence estimated by her neighbor Ichiuji as high as 60% at times and her intent to only rent half of her property’s bedrooms, council seemed not to share that concern in this specific case.

Councilwoman Thompson cited her own research of the neighborhood and Mr. Rodriguez’s materials in opposition to the Scanlan application, to explain why she supported approval of the permitting.

As to crime and public safety, Councilwoman Letasha Thompson said she had researched the surrounding area and found that within a quarter-mile radius there “were no less than seven registered sex offenders, two of those having been convicted of offenses with children.” So, the question posed back to opponents citing public safety was who actually presents more of a criminal threat, nearby short or long-term renters? Thompson also said her research into Rodriguez’s presentation was that the increase in crime stats tied to Air B&Bs he cited all applied to one study of an area in Boston between 2011 and 2018. And the bottom line of that study, she pointed out, was not that short-term rentals attracted a criminal element, but rather that when there are many short-term rentals in one neighborhood, that neighborhood can lose its cooperative “community watch” ambiance and becomes more susceptible to criminality.

Responding to questions from Vice-Mayor Cockrell, FRPD Captain Ryman said the area was fairly quiet, and that it had not been a traffic problem area for 6 or 7 years. As an earlier speaker in support of the application pointed out, there apparently had been no complaint calls about 108 Virginia Avenue during the period of time Scanlan had been doing short-term rentals, indicating that neighbors weren’t even aware of the use over the months it was being done unpermitted. And they noted, upon learning of the permitting requirement, Scanlan has shut down the operation after six or seven months.

FRPD Captain Jason Ryman said neither crime, nor traffic safety have been issues in the involved neighborhood in recent years. Below, near the meeting’s outset, after 19 years as a town Department of Energy Services Meter Technician, Dwayne Mauck was acknowledged upon his pending retirement.

And with all these variables cited, council approved the Scanlan Short-Term Rental SUP application by a 5-0 vote, Gillespie absent.
Also on Monday night, following a Special Closed Meeting called for 6 p.m. to consider interviews and appointments to the Joint Tourism Board, on added regular meeting agenda item 1-b, appointed to 4-year terms on the Joint Tourism Board were Scott Turnmeyer, Jesse McClain, Hannah MacKinnon, and Gillian Greenfield.

Click here to see all these discussion, votes, and more in the Town video.