Youngstown Mulls Regulations on Airbnbs, Group Homes

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The city is considering developing a plan to better regulate the influx of Airbnbs within the community, officials said during City Council’s zoning committee meeting Monday.

“We need to address the language for this,” Michael Durkin, the city’s code enforcement and blight remediation superintendent, said during the meeting. “Where we run into the problems is when someone takes a home in a residential area and starts bordering it out, and then there’s 10 or 15 cars parked on the streets.”

This, he added, could impede city service vehicles such as trash pickup in the neighborhoods. “It’s not a huge problem, but it does wreak havoc for us.”

Durkin said he believes the issue doesn’t warrant placing a temporary moratorium on Airbnbs across the city, but there needs to be some type of language guiding where they are located and their use.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, 3rd Ward, chairwoman of City Council’s zoning committee, said her ward on the city’s North Side contains two historic neighborhoods, and an Airbnb along one street has caused problems for neighbors on both sides of the dwelling.

“We’re working through language and possible legislation on that,” she said.

Erica Avery, city housing coordinator, said Poland Township has passed a moratorium on Airbnbs, and the city should first examine how that community handled the issue.

On one hand, she said, Airbnbs have an overall beneficial impact on the tax base and create an inviting alternative to those wishing to visit the city. But it becomes a problem, she said, when these houses are used for longer-term rental stays.

Avery cautioned that any language adopted must not alienate those who are operating Airbnbs responsibly.

Councilman Julius Oliver, 1st Ward, said other cities have passed moratoriums because out-of-town companies were buying up a large portion of the housing stock and converting it into short-term stay units. “These companies are outbidding the average citizen,” he said, driving rental rates higher. “It’s a problem nationally right now. A lot of cities are passing moratoriums or trying to regulate them,” he said.

Oliver said the city is already dealing with out-of-town landlords scooping up housing inventory, so an influx of Airbnbs could pose a problem in the future. “We ought to be careful how we do it, but I think it needs to be done,” he said.

Durkin said although all rental units must register with the city, it’s impossible to determine how many of these are classified as Airbnbs, or short-term rentals.

Moreover, Oliver noted that Airbnbs that are in commercial areas of the city – he cited units recently opened at the Calvin Center on Mahoning Avenue as an example – should serve as a model going forward. “It’s in the right area – it’s a commercial building,” he said.

The zoning committee also addressed gathering data on the density of group homes in the city. Among the first steps is to create a map of these dwellings to determine whether there is oversaturation in some city neighborhoods. 

It also agreed to continue discussions in working groups to craft legislation that would establish aesthetic standards for buildings and residences that have been designated as historic landmarks, or within a historic district.

Oliver suggested that members of the city’s design review board and Bill Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, be invited to provide input.

The committee also revisited the concept of developing a business license program that would help avert oversaturation of enterprises such as used car lots, small box stores, gas stations – businesses on which the city has placed moratoriums. Another industry under a moratorium consideration are plasma centers.

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