GULF SHORES, Ala. — Changes are coming for families who rent housing for their summer vacation.

At a recent Gulf Shores Committee of the Whole meeting, a zoning amendment was presented that will add a new section to the zoning ordinance which will recognize, establish standards and a specific boundary for the short term rental of single family and duplex housing that has been occurring in the City of Gulf Shores for many years.

At the request of the city council, the zoning amendment was drafted in order to allow for these types of rentals in certain areas of the City.

According to the amendment, the current zoning ordinance defines single family dwelling and duplex dwellings, regulates the zoning districts whereby these two uses are allowed, but does not address areas in which single family and duplexes are being used as tourist rentals.

In March of 2008, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend to the City Council that a subcommittee be formed to further study the issues involved with the Resort Housing Overlay District.

Later, Mayor Robert Craft put together a committee made up of city staff, several city council members and the city attorney to address the original issue of allowing short term single family and duplex housing rentals in certain areas of the City.

By creating the overlay district, areas where single family housing has been rented on a short term basis in the past is recognized, it permits tourist rental dwellings by right in the single family and duplex tourist rental overlay district, and enforcement of short term rentals outside the overlay district can be more easily enforced.

Research was done by the staff in order to recognize where short term rentals have occurred in the past and in order to establish a recommended boundary for the overlay district.  Business license records were provided by the Revenue Department and 200 Meyer and Kaiser Real Estate Rental Guidebooks in order to determine the boundary.

After the research was completed, findings showed that only 13 out of 491 single family and duplex rental dwelling units in Gulf Shores were outside of the proposed boundary of the single family and duplex tourist rental overlay district.

While there have been some concerns in regards to noise and parking, those issues are not addressed in the zoning amendment. Those issues will continue to be enforced by the police department on a case-by-case basis.

According to the amendment, the boundaries of the overlay district will include all single family and duplex-zoned land west of Hwy. 59 and south of Stanton Creek or West 2nd Avenue, south of Little Lagoon west of 7th Street, and will include all land on the Ft. Morgan peninsula west of the Peninsula Residential Planned Community.

Tourist rental dwellings will be prohibited in all single family or duplex zoning districts or areas that are designated as such outside of the overlay district.

The amendment will go before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Aug. 25th.  Once approved, it will return to the City Council for final approval.

“There will be multiple opportunities for public input regarding this before it is approved,” said Mayor Robert Craft at the Committee of the Whole meeting.  “We will have plenty of time to make the public aware of what we are doing.”