SML rental issue stalls on 3-3 vote

By: Justin Faulconer | Lynchburg News and Advance
Published: March 25, 2008

BEDFORD — A zoning change that would let Bedford County officials more vigorously regulate short-term rentals at Smith Mountain Lake stalled Monday.
A 3-3 vote by the Bedford County Board of Supervisors deadlocked a rezoning of 17 parcels within the Cedar Keys Subdivision in Huddleston from agricultural to
residential.
Chairman Steve Arrington held the deciding vote but chose to abstain because he said he has a contract with nearby property owners (Arrington works in the housing business). County Attorney Carl Boggess said the rezoning request is neither passed nor failed and he would issue a ruling on the tiebreaker at the board’s next meeting.
Several property owners spoke in favor of the zoning change because they said it would protect the waterfront neighborhood from short-term rental abuse. Current agricultural zoning gives county officials little leeway in regulating a short-term rental ordinance in that area, said County Administrator Kathleen Guzi.
William Earle, who lives in the subdivision, said he has seen as many as 18 people staying at a home where rentals occur. Jerry Downy, another resident, said at least four cabins and five homes in the area use rentals.
“We need a way to control this abuse,” Downy said. “All waterfront properties should have the highest level of protection zoning can afford.”
Supervisor Dale Wheeler said almost everyone he knows at the lake moved there because of their experience as renters.
“I’ve never been referred to as second class until I came back to Bedford County where there is this short-term issue,” he said. “It looks like we’re anti-rental.”
Supervisor Chuck Neudorfer, who represents Huddleston, said the county should revisit its rental
ordinance.
“We don’t have it right,” he said. “We need to work on it because the alternative, as some are suggesting, is to stop all rental at the lake.”
In a separate vote, the board voted 6-0 to keep three other parcels in the area agricultural due to a recommendation from the Bedford County Planning Commission because of its lack of homes.
Doug Rogers, whose nine tracts of land remained zoned agricultural, said he didn’t want to see his property rights infringed upon, regardless of the rental issue.

SML rental issue stalls on 3-3 vote

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