CAPE MAY – City Council unanimously adopted a short-term rental ordinance Feb. 1, establishing a new fee schedule and codifying regulations that will govern short-term rentals, including the growing commercial rental activities driven by online transient space rental applications, like Airbnb.
No member of the public spoke during the public hearing.
The ordinance was the brainchild of the council’s Municipal Taxation and Revenue Advisory Committee (MTRAC), a citizen advisory committee that also animated the discussion that led the council to change its occupancy tax regulations for 2022.
Council discussion of the ordinance began in November 2021. It was introduced Jan. 11. The ordinance becomes effective March 1.
Often discussed in terms of the impact on the city of online short-term rental applications, the 13-page ordinance was an attempt “to bring the city into the 21st century,” according to MTRAC chair Dennis Crowley at earlier council meetings. It attempts to recognize the changing demand for city services caused by the increasing use of the transient space marketplace.
The ordinance seeks to ensure the city is properly compensated for those changing demands for services and to verify that the spaces being offered meet city safety codes.
