🎯 STRisker: Bulletin - Harris Township, PA
Tensions Rise Over Harris Township’s Draft STR Ordinance
Harris Township Weighs STR Limits as Owners Push Back
What started as a plan to tidy up Harris Township’s short-term rental scene has turned into a standoff. The supervisors’ draft ordinance, in the works since spring, aims to regulate the township’s roughly 50 STRs. But with limits on rental days, strict parking rules, and insurance mandates, owners say it goes too far—and some are already preparing for legal battle.
The draft would limit rentals to 29 nights or fewer at a time and cap them at 120 nights total per year. New STRs would require owners to live in the property at least eight months out of the year, with only existing ones grandfathered in. If those homes are sold, though, the rules would apply. STR advocate Eric Hurvitz says that violates zoning law, since non-conforming uses should run with the land, not the owner. He and 15 others have retained attorney Ambrose Heinz to represent them.
Parking rules have been another lightning rod. The ordinance demands cars stay entirely on-site, prohibits street parking, and requires at least one paved off-street spot per bedroom. Gravel driveways wouldn’t cut it. Owners argue this unfairly targets STRs while ignoring how permanent residents park. Supervisors later clarified the paving rule would apply only to new spaces, not existing driveways, but even that hasn’t quelled the anger.
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Beyond parking, owners say they’re being singled out with extra burdens: mandatory $500,000 liability insurance, septic tank documentation, and restrictions on condos or multi-property owners. “You cannot change rules for a specific use,” Hurvitz argued, calling the ordinance discriminatory.
Supervisors, for their part, maintain the effort is about balance. They’ve stressed the need to preserve the community’s character while setting fair guardrails on an industry that, until now, has gone unregulated. With other Centre Region municipalities already capping STRs—some at 45 or 60 nights—the board sees its 120-night cap as moderate.
After a long night of objections, the supervisors tabled a vote to move the draft forward to the planning commission. More work sessions are expected, with discussions likely to center on rental nights and parking provisions. Public meetings happen on the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m., and this issue is sure to stay front and center.
For now, Harris Township stands at a crossroads. Will it tighten STR rules in the name of community preservation, or will pushback from owners shift the final product? One thing’s clear: the road ahead won’t be quiet.
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