Airbnb, VRBO may be coming to rural Fayette County. But the rules will be strict.

Short-term rentals may soon be allowed in rural Fayette County.

But there likely won’t be a proliferation of vacation homes in Lexington’s rural areas under new rules the Lexington council tentatively approved on Tuesday.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council’s General Government and Planning Committee voted to allow short-term rentals in rural areas after getting recommendations from the Rural Land Management Board, which develops policies for land use in the rural area and oversees the city’s Protection of Development Rights program or its farmland protection program.

The changes, if passed, will take months to implement.

The ordinance will now go to the full council, and then to the Urban County Planning Commission for its review because it requires a change to the city’s zoning regulations.

The city in January adopted some rules for short-term rentals inside Fayette County’s urban service boundary. But the council recently proposed changes limiting how many would be allowed in an area after several neighborhoods complained that too many homes were being flipped to short-term rentals. Those changes are still being debated.

Outside the urban service boundary, the Rural Land Management Board has proposed strict rules for short-term rentals in agricultural zones, which make up the majority of land outside the urban service boundary.

“The concern is that we wanted to keep the primary use agricultural,” said Margaret Graves, of the Rural Land Management Board, during a September committee meeting.

The board also wanted to protect farming operations. It can be dangerous to have too many visitors close to thoroughbred and other farming operations, she said.

Proposed restrictions on short-term rentals outside the service boundary include:

• All short-term rentals in agricultural zones must get a conditional use permit from the city’s Board of Adjustment.
• Only hosted short-term rentals, where the owner lives on the property, will be allowed, with the exception of short-term rental operators on property of less than 10 acres. For properties with less than 10 acres, the short-term rental operator will not have to live on the property.
• Only one short-term rental in a one-mile radius. That’s the same restriction placed on Bed and Breakfasts in the agricultural zones. The restriction will be 500 feet for hosted short-term rentals on 10 acres or less.
• Setting an occupancy limit of two per bedroom
• Not allowing newly built structures to become short-term rentals. Only existing buildings, such as farm tenant homes, can be allowed on the property. Only one short-term rental per property.

On Tuesday, Councilwoman Kathy Plomin made two changes to the original proposal after hearing from some short-term rental operators operating in the rural areas.

The Rural Land Management board had recommended that only hosted short-term rentals, where the owner lives on the property, be allowed in the rural area with a conditional use permit.

Plomin said there are operators in neighborhoods or residential areas that are not on farms. Plomin made the recommendation to tweak the original proposal to allow unhosted short-term rentals on properties under 10 acres and allow short-term rentals within 500 feet in areas where the rental is on property less than 10 acres.

Both changes passed unanimously.

Tuesday’s meeting was the second time the council discussed regulations for short-term rentals in the rural area.

Jennifer Sutton, a research analyst with the city, said the board also recommended any short-term rental operators receive a certificate from the health department certifying the home’s septic system could handle the additional use.

Structures outside the urban service area are not connected to city sewers.

That’s also why there needs to be limitations on the number of people allowed to stay in a home, Sutton said during a Sept. 10 General Government and Planning committee meeting.

The rural land management board also recommended the 14 short-term rentals in the rural area that registered with the city in January, when the new ordinance took effect, should be grandfathered in.

All other short-term rentals, including those operating illegally, would not be allowed to be grandfathered in.

Councilman David Sevigny questioned during the September meeting why the 14 in the rural area are allowed to operate.

City officials said those short-term rentals that were operating prior to the city’s short-term ordinance taking effect in January could continue to operate as short-term rentals as a non-conforming use in the agricultural zone. That essentially means those 14 operators would be grandfathered in, said Traci Wade, planning manager for the city.