New Zoning Category in Ocean City, Maryland
As a Maryland REALTOR® and frequent visitor to Ocean City, Maryland, a local political issue has caught my eye:
R-1A, a new zoning code designation approved by the Ocean City Planning & Zoning Commission last week, will restrict existing single-family properties currently zoned R-1 from being rented for any shorter period than 12 months.
This zoning category is too new to have been implemented yet, but its passage does raise some questions for me.
The local Association of REALTORS® opposed this new zoning category, but its approval was driven by outspoken and relentless residents of one Ocean City neighborhood, Mallard Island. These residents indicate that their established, tranquil community is being disturbed by occupants of two properties in the community that are rented on a weekly basis during the beach season. Needless to say, the owners of these rental properties are outnumbered, but what about their rights? It's highly likely that they purchased these properties as investments, intending to rent them during the summer, as many other properties are in this and other beach communities up and down the coast.
Buying a house in a beach community and then complaining that your neighbor rents to summer beach-goers is similar, in my opinion, to someone buying a home near an airport and then complaining about airplane noise.
If owner occupants of one neighborhood can persuade Ocean City, Maryland, officials to implement this restriction in their little beach town, what about college towns... Are College Park residents, neighbors of the University of Maryland flagship campus, going to be inspired by this precedent and seek similar relief in their neighborhoods so that investors cannot rent to college students?
I don't have any vested interest in this matter, since I don't own property in Ocean City (or College Park, for that matter), and my real estate business is located in another part of the state. It does seem to me, however, that this is the first inch in a potentially slippery slope that could have collateral consequences beyond Ocean City.
Where is the Maryland Association of REALTORS® and RPAC®? I've seen no mention of them assisting the Coastal Association of REALTORS® in their opposition to this zoning category, in spite of the potential implications for property rights statewide.
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