After a different proposal to limit short-term rentals like AirBnB and VRBO to only Heber’s downtown area failed in July, city council approved a series of amendments to Heber’s short-term rental code on September 1st.
The council decided to allow short-term rentals city-wide in July but the most recent changes are aimed at better regulating these rentals. The city had been looking at implementing ordinances for short-term rentals for over a year.
The changes include requiring a business license for short-term rental properties, limiting the rentals to single-family dwellings, including a parking plan and quiet hour requirements, prohibiting RVs and tents, and requiring written consent from the relevant Homeowners’ Association before a short-term rental can be listed.
Jamie Baron is Heber’s City Planner and said requiring HOA approval would allow individual neighborhoods to opt-out of allowing short-term rentals if they choose.
“I think there are plenty of individuals who live within HOAs who may not like short-term rentals so they may approach their HOA and say ‘we don’t want to do this. We want to prohibit this.’ It’s obviously going to come, first, from them to say ‘we don’t want it for anybody that’s new.’ And then to try and enforce.”
The ordinance was passed unanimously by the council and went into effect immediately. A link to the full staff report and new short-term rental ordinance in Heber can be found here.
