News

Public hearing on short-term rentals next week

Comments can also be submitted in writing

COVINGTON, Ky. – A public hearing will be held Wednesday, April 12, in Covington to collect opinions related to the City’s regulation of short-term rentals.

Anyone interested in speaking at the hearing, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Carnegie, 1028 Scott Blvd., needs to sign a sheet upon arriving. To let the greatest possible number of people to voice their thoughts, speakers will be limited to three minutes.

The hearing will be held before the Covington Board of Commissioners, which has called a special meeting.

Alternatively, members of the public can submit comments in writing at one-question short-term rental survey.  

A second public hearing will likely be held in the days that follow.

“We want to hear from as many people as possible so as to deepen our understanding of the community’s experiences with short-term rentals and the impact their recent proliferation has had on Covington’s neighborhoods,” City Manager Ken Smith said.

The City is holding the hearing as part of its ongoing effort to collect information that will allow it to more efficiently regulate the businesses, also known as vacation rentals and commonly referenced by the platforms under which they’re advertised, Airbnb and Vrbo.

Covington joined cities across the country in 2020 in regulating short-term rentals by requiring a rental license and zoning approval, as well as an occupational (business) license. But software the City began using a few months ago showed that hundreds of property owners were ignoring the requirements and renting their units illegally and under the radar.

With the sheer number of those rentals threatening to turn some neighborhoods in de facto hotel districts, and after receiving complaints from neighbors about late-hour noise, trash, and parking, the Board of Commissioners declared a six-month moratorium on the issuance of new licenses in December 2022 to give it time to study the issue and possibly rewrite regulations.

That moratorium does not apply to property owners who sought and received licenses.

The Commission also amended the City’s ordinance to deny for one year a rental license to any property owner who continued to operate a short-term rental business illegally. The amended ordinance was adopted on March 28.

# # #