Traverse City continues to look for answers to balance the interest in short term rentals from owners and developers with the need for long term housing in the community. With the growth of short term rentals nationally and internationally, Traverse City residents have been looking to capitalize on the increasing popularity of Traverse City as a tourist destination. However, given the lack of rental housing in the area, particularly closer to downtown Traverse City, officials in the city as well as surrounding tonwships have taken steps to limit short term rentals in recent years.
While short term rentals had previously been allowed in residences in commercially zoned areas, Traverse City has been working to set furher limits on STR's in recent months. City Commissioners made recommendations on January 7th to limit vacation home rentals to 38 already licensed or applied for within C-1 and C-2 districts. However, since that meeting, recommendations have been revised to further limit the number of properties that would be STR eligible.
Commissioners are now weighing whether to use the availability of future short term rental licenses to incentivize developers to create long term housing.
For more details on this evolving topic, see the article in the Traverse City Record-Eagle from February 10th.
