Lexington Council committee reviews rural short-term rental recommendations

Lexington city leaders continue to work on regulations for short-term rentals in Fayette County. Committee work Tuesday focused on rural areas.

In August, the General Government and Planning Committee ironed out details for short-term rentals in urban areas. Much of the discussion Tuesday on rental units out in the county centered on how many and hosting responsibilities. Margaret Graves chaired the committee making recommendations. She was asked about units in ag-zones near residential areas.

“The A-R zone applies to a very broad range of types of properties and we didn’t have the ability to distinguish between…within the A-R zone different types of properties,” said Graves.

The draft document contains many provisions including allowing only one short-term rental within a one-mile radius, only one per property, and only hosted S-T-Rs. Tracy Jones, in the City’s Law Department, was asked about limiting the number.

“It was an effort to preclude a situation where someone has the land and they just build a number of residences and they have a little encampment of short-term rentals on their property where another property that’s smaller would not be able to do that either,” said Jones.

There was also significant discussion about what’s permitted in the 14 properties with existing short-term rentals in rural areas. The committee did not take action on rural short-term rental recommendations Tuesday.

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