The Sarasota City Commission moved to expand its vacation rental monitoring program to include two mainland neighborhoods left out of its 2024 expansion.
Commissioners voted unanimously Oct. 19 to approve the first reading of an ordinance adding Gillespie Park and Park East to the Downtown Neighborhood Zone. They also voted to increase the program’s fees.
The city expanded the program from the barrier islands to the mainland in 2024, but left out those two neighborhoods.
The city commission directed staff to expand vacation rental registration to the Downtown Neighborhood Zone on March 2.
A map included in the presentation showed that about 50 units may qualify for the registration and monitoring program.
In a second unanimous vote, commissioners
approved the first reading of an ordinance raising the initial application fee from $500 to $700, the annual renewal fee from $350 to $600 and the first reinspection fee from $100 to $200.
It would also establish a $200 fee for denying access or canceling an inspection late and a $50 fee to change a rental’s responsible party.
What is the vacation rental registration program?
The city of Sarasota established a vacation rental registry for properties on the barrier islands in January 2022 and expanded that to include properties on the mainland in 2024.
The city’s policy requires a seven-day minimum stay. It also sets a maximum occupancy for the rentals, based on the zoning district and number of rooms.
Owner-occupied vacation rentals, condominiums, cooperatives or properties rented for 30 days or more are exempt from the city's registration requirements, althoughrenting property where a resident lives can still have significant impact on homesteaded property.
In a presentation to the City Commission, Hannah Chabica, supervisor of the city’s vacation rental compliance program, noted that there are currently 660 vacation rentals registered through the program.
City staff monitors the safety of those units, including pool safety features, fire safety features and the availability of emergency information for guests.
What changes are being proposed for the rental registration program?
The current vacation rental compliance team consists of one supervisor, two inspectors and two administrative staff members.
As part of a proposal to increase fees, staff would be increased by two people, a code compliance specialist and a vacation rental compliance specialist.
Those positions are considered Grade 112, with a projected salary of $24.11 an hour or $50,153.14 per year.
That fee increase is projected to raise $541,400 — not counting the money generated by the expansion of the registration program — which would cover 97.4% of the recurring cost of $555,861.10.
The impact of the changes to vacation rental monitoring would be brought to the city commission for review after Oct. 1, 2027.
What did residents say about beefing up the program?
Kelly Brown, president of the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations and of the Gillespie Park Neighborhood Association, said Gillespie Park neighbors had been asking for oversight since 2023.
“Vacation rentals that are not owner occupied continue to ignore the city’s rules,” Brown said. “Gillespie Park is very similar to Laurel Park with single-family homes, duplexes, small apartment complexes and primarily full-time residents.
“We are not a transient hotel lodging neighborhood,” she added. “Today more than 14% of properties are short-term rentals in Gillespie Park, of which 70% are not owner-occupied.”
She added that seven “huge houses” are being built in Gillespie Park for use as vacation rentals.
Brown said that while walking her dog, she has spotted at least 12 short-term rentals not reflected among the 50 identified on a city staff map.
“Gillespie Park is a small enough neighborhood to walk every street and get to know all the people,” Brown said.
She later added that better use of technology may be a better solution than adding staff to the vacation rental program.
Jim Ludwig, first vice president of the CCNA, speaking on behalf of that umbrella organization, supported the expansion of vacation rental monitoring citywide.
The association did not take a position on the proposed fee increase but did “support the concept, though, that programs like this need to pay for administration through a fee structure.”
Max Brandow, vice president of advocacy for the Realtor Association of Sarasota & Manatee, voiced concern about “whether the city of Sarasota has done enough to control those costs before asking operators to shoulder an increase in the cost of annual registration.
“We’re asking that before you approve higher fees and additional staff, the commission should require an itemized operating budget and estimates of potential savings, based on those process improvements.”
Among other things, Brandow suggested that extending the time period for registration from one year to two years would decrease the cost.
What’s next?
The two ordinances will not become law until after a yet-to-be-scheduled second reading.
City staff must also bring back an amendment to the 2026-27 budget to account for the two new positions.
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota moves to tighten vacation rental oversight and raise fees
