The Cottonwood City Council held the first reading of Ordinance 731, which would require registration and other regulations for short-term and vacation rentals, at its Feb. 21 meeting.
The proposed ordinance was presented by Cottonwood Financial Services Director Kirsten Lennon.
After the state of Arizona passed Senate Bill 1350 in 2016 prohibiting local governments from regulating STRs or requiring them to register as businesses, the STR and vacation rental business expanded dramatically. State and local residents have since complained of issues including the loss of long term housing, the inability to contact the owners of a property when there are issues with their renters and a lack of control over how homes are used.
In 2022, the legislature responded to these concerns by enacting Senate Bill 1168, which allows cities to impose some regulations on STRs.
Cottonwood’s proposed ordinance would require a property owner to establish a 24-hour emergency point of contact for the rental to enable timely response to complaints. It would also require notification of every single family residential property next to, across from and diagonally across the street from the rental. STR owners would be required to share their permit numbers, the addresses of their rentals and the emergency contact information.
The ordinance would further require that an owner must clearly display their name, phone number and email address and emergency contact information within 15 feet of the rental’s main entrance.
If approved, city staff would then need to notify all homeowners in the city about the new law and its requirements.
Councilwoman Tosca Henry stated that the ordinance is a step in the right direction, as Cottonwood has already seen the effects of Sedona’s short term rentals on their long-term rental market.
The second and final reading of the proposed ordinance will take place on Tuesday, March 7.
