BY STEFANIE BOWMANN
Eastern Shore Post
The Cape Charles Town Council, days before Christmas 2024, changed its mind on the ordinance it had passed in the previous month to regulate short-term vacation rental homes.
“Why the total about-face from your decision just a few weeks ago?” said resident Susan Burger in a written public comment that was read into the record on Dec. 19. “Who has that much influence on you to make this change?”
Short-term vacation rental homes once were allowed in Cape Charles by right, meaning anyone could operate one without a permit.
That changed in November 2024, when the town council passed an ordinance requiring a short-term-rental owner to obtain a zoning permit from the Cape Charles planning department. The qualifications to receive a zoning permit included obtaining a business license and passing a building inspection.
Furthermore, anyone who wanted to run a short-term-rental vacation home to accommodate more than 10 guests was required to obtain a conditional-use permit, a higher-level permit that is granted only upon the approval of town council.
But the Cape Charles Town Council on Dec. 19 voted 5-1 to adopt a new version of the short-term-rental ordinance, one without a conditional-use permit requirement for properties accommodating more than 10 guests.
However, the council added a zoning permit requirement: Short-term vacation rental operators must certify that adjacent property owners were notified when the permit applications, which must be renewed annually, were submitted.
There is also a requirement that applicants provide contact information of responsible parties who are available 24-7 to address concerns with the rental homes they manage.
The contact information is to be provided to the town, not directly to adjacent property owners. This discourages neighbors from policing each other, noted Councilwoman Tara Ashworth.
The council deleted proposed language in the ordinance that would have allowed town staff to visit a short-term rental home to determine the availability of off-street parking.
If available, the applicant would be required to provide off-street parking. Otherwise, there would be “no harm, no foul,” said Town Manager John Hozey.
However, Councilman Ken Butta was concerned that town staff could say, for example, “take down your fence and put in a parking spot.”
The council also removed the 90-day time frame for the planning department to act on a zoning permit application.
No other ordinance contains such a provision, and 90 days is a “very lengthy time period that would cause undue uncertainty in our short-term-rental community,” Ashworth said.
The council also changed the method of calculating the maximum occupancy of a short-term rental, which was two guests per bedroom plus two. Under the new ordinance, children ages 2 and under will not be counted.
“We are unduly limiting families from being able to come to Cape Charles, particularly those with infants that are not going to be sleeping in a separate bedroom” but in the same bedroom as the parents, in a playpen or crib, Ashworth said.
Hozey noted that occupancy limits set by the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code will still apply. All of the amendments that were voted on individually passed unanimously.
However, when the town council considered the new short-term-rental ordinance as a whole, which was crafted based on input that council members provided during a Dec. 9 work session, the vote was 5-1. Councilman Paul Grossman cast the sole opposing vote, citing the removal of the conditional-use permit requirement.
