By Adam Pagnucco.
In January, Council Member Will Jawando introduced Bill 6-23 and Zoning Text Amendment 23-01, which establish regulatory and land use frameworks for shared rentals. Jawando made the case for this legislation in MoCo360:
In an interview, Jawando said he had heard that some residents have been renting out part of their homes—like pools and gym space—which technically is illegal under current county law. He added that he’s heard about gig economy apps like Swimply and Sniffspot—which allow residents to rent out their pools or backyards to use as dog parks—being used locally though he did not know how many currently are operating in the county.
“I think it’s just an evolution of the sharing economy,” Jawando said. “People are doing this more, and you want to provide a safe, regulatory framework, and it will also be a new revenue source for us.”
Sounds good to me, but there’s a catch: the legislation might provide for a little more sharing than some folks might anticipate!
At a Monday joint session of three county council committees convened to work on the bill, Council President Evan Glass had the following question for council staffer Livhu Ndou:
Glass: As written, would this legislation allow individuals to rent bedrooms in someone’s home by the hour?
Voice off camera: Oh God…
Ndou: As written, it does not restrict that, no.
Glass: So the answer is that this legislation as drafted would allow individuals to rent bedrooms in other people’s homes by the hour.
Ndou: Yes.
Staff fights hard to avoid laughing.
Jawando was none too happy about this observation made by a political rival. He had staff clarify that rentals covered by the bill had to be primary residences. He then said, “I would hope we can just not, you know, game out every potential possible negative situation that is not happening, or that could happen in any home at any time anyway. I just think that is not the goal here, and I don’t think it’s helpful to the conversation.”
Jawando, unlike the staff, was not amused.
The entire exchange appears in the video below.
Update: Jawando’s bill states clearly that “no sleeping quarters will be offered” (Line 37) so staff’s interpretation was incorrect. I am told this will be reflected in future discussions of the bill. See the excerpt from the bill below.
