LAFAYETTE, La. — The Lafayette Board of Zoning Adjustment will consider an appeal of a November 2020 decision that allowed a short term rental to operate on Poinsetta Street during its regular meeting on Thursday.
According to the Thursday's meeting agenda, the board will consider a repeal of Development and Planning Department Director Mary Sliman’s Nov. 10, 2020 decision to grant a short term rental to house on Poinsetta Street in Lafayette, which is being brought by the neighbors and property owners in the area.
Sliman authorized Bass Family Properties, LLC because the Unified Development Code doesn’t expressly prohibit, or permit, a short term rental.
This came after a Feb. 7, 2020 letter from Sliman to Bass Family Properties claiming that it had violated the UDC when it received a complaint that the property was being used for a short-term rental on internet sites including AirBNB, VRBO and Facebook.
The lack of regulations in the UDC over short term rentals came before the Lafayette City Council last year when it tried to bring an ordinance to clarify short term rentals in the UDC.
However, the council deferred it from last July to September 2020, and then in September they deferred the ordinance indefinitely.
The neighbors are appealing Sliman’s November 2020 decision because they say having a short term rental is adversely impacting their neighborhood, and that they were never notified of Sliman’s decision to allow a short term rental in their neighborhood.
The neighbors state that Sliman's determination was based on an "erroneous interpretation" of the UDC.
They stat that the decision will set a precedent that will allow other short term rentals to start operating in the neighborhood.
They claim that Sliman’s determination was based on a misinterpretation of the development code and that short term rentals do not meet the definition of Single-Family Residences as outlined in the UDC.
The Lafayette Board of Zoning Adjustment will hold its regular meeting on Thursday, April 8, at 5:30 p.m. at City-Parish Hall in Lafayette.
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