VRMA Administrator
Marco Island, Florida, single-family homeowners who rent their properties less than 30 days at a time no longer have to register with the city or be subject to the rules of an ordinance approved in 2022. A Florida law signed into law in June affects local governments within 100-mile radius of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall Sept. 28, 2022. The law prohibits "restrictive or burdensome" amendments by local governments to land development or comprehensive plans until next October and nullifies any put in place after Ian hit. Marco Island voters approved an ordinance to implement the single-family "home transient rental registration program" on Aug. 23, 2022. The referendum included restrictions that the ordinance wouldn't take effect until two readings with public hearings before the City Council. Those took place and the council approved the ordinance on Dec. 5. "As if it never happened," City Attorney Alan Gabriel told City Council on Oct. 2 when he proposed a resolution to instruct the city manager to make the appropriate changes and announcements. Two attorneys, Gabriel and outside counsel Robert Pritt, gave opinions that Marco Island's vacation rental ordinance falls under the "restrictive and burdensome" category and therefore is rendered null and void. The law says the action is "null and void ab initio," or from the beginning.
Naples Daily News (FL) (10/03/23) J. Kyle Foster
