BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Buffalo Common Council is considering a temporary moratorium on first-time special use permits for non-owner-occupied short-term rentals.
It would apply to the following zones:
- N-2R Residential
- N-3R Residential
- N-4-30 Single-Family
- N-4-50 Single-Family
The moratorium would be effective until March 1, 2025.
The moratorium does not apply to:
- Renewals of previously granted non-owner-occupied short-term rental licenses
- First-time applications for non-owner occupied permits where the owner resides within 1,000 feet of the rental property or on the same block
- Owner-occupied short-term rental special use permits
Fillmore District Council member Mitch Nowakowski said the Council is eyeing this pause because of unregistered properties and neighborhood concerns. Council members discussed this during a legislation committee meeting on Wednesday.
"That's the sole purpose of moratoriums that are saying, 'Wait, let's pause this really quick. Let's have a few months where we can legislatively catch up,'" Nowakowski said. "The Masten District Councilwoman has had people even apply in her district who have rented apartments in her district, and then Airbnb being Their rented apartments while they really live in Hamburg. It's out of control."
Nowakowski said there will be a meeting with Airbnb to discuss the urgency of this situation but this could potentially hold up other applicants like Airbnb superhost James Wangelin.
"So I think we're going to continue those conversations and make sure that we do have a viable path forward that we all can be happy with," he said.
He is hoping to list a colorful and vibrant house in Allentown on the popular property rental app.
"So it was a vacant property. It almost really had to be demoed. I mean, it was a really, really dilapidated property, so we had a full gut we actually had to rebuild a lot of the interior this property to bring it back to integrity," he said.
The Council legislation committee tabled the moratorium to discuss it more before Council members officially vote on it.
The City of Buffalo recently ordered 184 of the 460 short-term rental units in the city to be shut down because of improper licenses. You can watch our previous report below and read more here.
