Weekly Regulatory Briefing (3) 01/16/2026

🏡Top Stories This Week

• Miami, FL: A 3-year-old child dies after falling into a swimming pool at a short-term rental home in Miami’s Kendale Lakes area, prompting renewed attention to pool safety at STR properties.
• Park Township, MI: Lakeshore property owners have taken their fight against Park Township’s short-term rental ban to federal court, arguing the township violated constitutional rights by prohibiting rentals it had allowed for decades.

🌍 Regional Highlights

• Ohio: Ohio lawmakers are again weighing legislation that would sharply limit how cities regulate short-term rentals.
• Arizona: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs proposes a $3.50 nightly fee on short-term rentals to fund a new Arizona Affordability Fund aimed at helping residents with utility costs, home weatherization, and affordable housing.

📜 New Ordinances Approved

• Evanston, IL: The Evanston City Council votes to tighten a proposed short-term rental ordinance, approving amendments that make the rules more restrictive than the version drafted by city staff.
• Carter County, KY: The Carter County Fiscal Court unanimously approves the second reading of an ordinance expanding the county’s transient tax to cover all nightly rentals, including short-term rentals like Airbnb and campgrounds.

💬 Catch Up on Discussions

• Pittsburgh, PA: North Side residents and Pittsburgh officials are calling for stricter short-term rental regulations following a New Year’s Eve shooting linked to a party at an Airbnb in East Allegheny.
• Falmouth, MA: The Select Board is delaying action on a proposed short-term rental bylaw that would introduce licensing, occupancy limits, operator proximity requirements, and restrictions on ownership types, citing concerns about oversight, cost, and process.
• Buena Vista, CO: The Buena Vista Board of Trustees considered a proposed nine-month emergency moratorium on new short-term rental licenses at its January 13 meeting.
• Glen Ellyn, IL: A federal judge has granted an injunction blocking Glen Ellyn from enforcing its short-term rental ban against a single Airbnb property purchased before annexation into the village.
• Logan, OH: Homeowners in a Green Township subdivision are asking a judge to block a Florida-based company from operating a short-term rental they say violates restrictive covenants limiting properties to residential use.
• Monterey County, CA: Monterey County supervisors have voted to ban short-term rentals in all unincorporated residential areas, including Pebble Beach and Big Sur, effectively prohibiting rentals under 30 days on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO.
• Springfield, MO: Springfield City Council is preparing to place a revised 3% hotel and short-term rental tax increase on the April 7 ballot after voters narrowly rejected a similar proposal in November 2025.
• East Alleghany, PA: East Allegheny residents are urging tighter short-term rental rules following a shooting at an Airbnb that renewed concerns about safety and neighborhood disruption.
• Kane County, IL: The Kane County Board voted this week on whether to tighten short-term rental regulations in unincorporated areas following ongoing resident complaints.
• Maui County, HI: The Maui County Council’s Housing Committee postpones a decision on creating new H-3 and H-4 hotel zoning districts that would preserve vacation rental use for some apartment-zoned properties impacted by Bill 9.
• Clark County, NV: Clark County approves an appeal seeking to reinstate enforcement of short-term rental fines after a federal judge blocked penalties in December.
• Rich County, UT: County planning staff report that a new STR permitting software rollout identifies roughly 88 historical listings, with only 45 renewals completed so far due to a confusing renewal grace period that marks permits as expired before the March 31 deadline.
• Tulsa, OK: Tulsa City Council is set to resume discussion on a proposal to raise the city’s hotel and motel tax from 5% to more than 9%, after the measure was postponed last November.
• Temple Terrace, FL: Temple Terrace rolls out its first short-term rental ordinance after resident complaints about parking, safety, and overcrowding in residential neighborhoods.
• Glynn County, GA: Parking requirements for short-term rentals draw scrutiny during a public town hall, with residents warning that the draft ordinance could produce uneven outcomes between STRs and traditional single-family homes.
• Whittier, CA: Whittier officials approve the first reading of a sweeping short-term rental ordinance that tightens rules on location, density, and safety.
• Solvang, CA: Solvang officials are proposing updates to the city’s 2016 short-term rental ordinance as concerns grow over housing loss, neighborhood disruption and hotel competition.

📲 Social Buzz

📅 Future Meetings and Public Hearings/Comments:

• Evanston, IL: Final approval could come Jan. 26, though city officials are monitoring related legal challenges in nearby Glen Ellyn.

🖱️ Click of the Week: See What Everyone’s Reading

Columbia City Council aims to tighten rules on short-term rentals

Columbia City Council unanimously approved changes restricting new short-term rentals to commercial or mixed-use zones with a limited exception for properties on four-lane road.

STRisker Updates Tracker

How do you keep up with the regulatory rollercoaster in your market? STRisker's Updates Tracker can be your guide - start tracking latest events as they happen and get access to essential documents as they come in. We know the struggle, which is why we built this product to capture every twist and turn in the regulatory saga so you never miss a beat.

Start Your Free Trial

👍 We’d love your feedback.
Which stories hit? Which ones missed?

We're constantly refining Weekly Briefing to make it even more useful for you.

✉️ Just reply directly to this email. We read and respond to every message!

-Will McClure
🙋 P.S.
Know someone else who should be reading Weekly Briefing? Feel free to forward this along. It is the easiest way to stay ahead of regulation changes in short-term and vacation rentals.