Newport City Council will consider a citywide moratorium on new short-term rentals at its Wednesday meeting, aiming to curb the loss of housing units to vacation rentals.
“We are now looking at a moratorium on all new short-term rentals across the entire city,” Xaykham (Xay) Khamsyvoravong, Mayor and City Council Chair, said during a conversation to preview the agenda with What’sUpNewp on Monday. “We heard from the zoning officer for the city that we’re losing 20-ish units of housing per year to conversions to short-term rentals. This is an effort to stop that.”
The mayor emphasized that the proposed moratorium would not affect existing short-term rentals or owner-occupied rentals where homeowners rent out a bedroom.
The council will also vote on repealing a new sewer fee structure.
“The repeal of the sewer fee. This technically lasts on our agenda. I expect that the council will change the order of the agenda to take that item first, right after we finish with the major consent and business items,” Khamsyvoravong said.
“We heard loud and clear from residents about the challenges that were resulting from the new sewer fee structure,” Khamsyvoravong said. “The council is trying to move quickly to repeal that fee.”
‘We Made a Mistake’: Newport City Council will likely rescind sewer fee hike, revert to previous rate structure
He noted that residents who have already been charged under the new structure will receive credits on future bills.
Other agenda items include approving a consultant for King Park renovations to improve flood resilience and considering noise complaints related to a recurring “Cars and Coffee” event.
“We know that our zoning code has some major challenges to it. Towards the bottom is an item that means lot coverage and some ministerial things that we think just need to be cleaned up to relief the burden that’s on the planning board right now and that we also think will impact other things like stormwater” Khamsyvoravong said.
The mayor also spoke about a resolution to relocate the historic carousel from Easton’s Beach due to ongoing erosion concerns.
“I put forth a resolution on the agenda that I hope the council will consider supporting, asking the administration to come up with a plan for the relocation of that carousel. We know that Easton’s beach is rapidly eroding at a rate of about a foot and a half per year,” Khamsyvoravong said.
“We want to make sure that that important historic asset for the city, the carousel itself, is located somewhere where the public can continue enjoying it rather than sitting in storage,” Khamsyvoravong said.
Newport City Council to consider resolution that would restore, relocate carousel
Wednesday’s council meeting will be held at Pell Elementary School due to elevator issues at City Hall. Residents can submit comments on agenda items in advance or speak during public forum periods at the meeting.
Agenda
I was horrified to learn that the City Hall elevator was out of order, preventing those with mobility issues, such as my husband who cannot do stairs, from reaching the office to pick up an absentee ballot application. To have this happen at election time is reprehensible. Why isn’t anyone in there repairing or replacing the elevator?
Seems like every 4 years the elevators at City Hall are not working or construction going on to hinder handicap from entering the building always around the election cycle? Seems like this is happening way too much,just to be coincidental.