Who We Are

GOALS

• Protect the rights of homeowners to use their property as a vacation rental.

• Educate the community on the positive impacts of vacation rentals for all residents (i.e. Beach renourishment, economic impact, non-profit organization funding, etc.).

• Provide a voice to the often unheard members of the community who support the use of vacation rentals. 

• Create a positive outcome for all of Tybee with the current vacation rental ordinance discussion.

HISTORY

Tybee Island City Council passed its first STVR ordinance requiring registration of properties in 2016, implementing a registration fee of $25/year along with various reasonable requirements for properties operating on the island. One year later, the City revisited the new ordinance and raised the fee to $100/year while making minor changes to the regulatory requirements of STVRs. 

By 2019, the STVR issue became the primary focus of that year’s election campaign, including open discussion among candidates of banning or capping vacation rentals. There have been numerous council items and proposed ordinances enacted to control STVR activity dealing with occupancy, trash, noise, parking, and other perceived “nuisances.”   Since the election of more hardline anti-vacation rental candidates, support for controlling the growing number of STVRs on Tybee Island has expanded both by council members as well as voting residents. In 2020 the City formed an STVR committee that spent 3 months studying the issues and made recommendations to the City council (some have been considered, most have been ignored).  

As politics of the 2021 election year heated up, and STVR animosity returned to the center of the campaign and community chatter, City Council issued a moratorium on new vacation rental registrations on August 26, 2021, clearing the way for a review period where zoning changes and caps would be discussed. The proposed moratorium resolution was made public when the agenda was released just 6 days prior to the vote and no justification was provided to the public. As is expected in a small town, a few very vocal residents are currently driving this effort.  

The 90-day moratorium on STVR Permits in August 2021 was issued “In order to study the current situation with short term vacation rentals (STVRs) on Tybee Island… During this time, the city will gather information on issues, concerns, and potential next steps with public input.”  

In November, Council extended the moratorium through May 2022 to provide time for City staff and local stakeholders to review various questions from Council and provide feedback which was to be used in the creation of a new ordinance. At the same meeting, Council voted to increase fees to charge an additional $10-$20/person of marketable occupancy in the home. This increase has added hundreds of dollars per year to the cost of registration for each property.

Most recently, the issue was brought up by Council in April following meetings by another STVR committee which provided recommendations. Those recommendations were ignored for a second time as Council presented a confusing and vague draft ordinance that would eliminate vacation rental use as a right, declare any existing permitted properties as non-conforming, and require non-conforming properties in operation to continuously rent without any gaps of 90 or more days or their permit and ongoing status as non-comforming use would be stripped permanently. This ordinance was sent to Planning Commission for review, which thankfully sent it back to Council noting that it was too poorly written to effectively review and asked that they work with the City Attorney and Staff to redraft the ordinance.

In the interim, the anti-vacation rental residents have hired attorneys to send letters threatening litigation with the goal of a full ban of vacation rentals in residential zones covering approximately ¾ of the island. Their attorneys have incorrectly asserted that these zones already prohibit vacation rentals and that the City has violated their own codes by issuing permits to homeowners. 

In response, Tybee Island Association of Rental Agents (TIARA) members agreed that a broader coalition was needed going forward. In May, with the help of legal counsel, a new organization, Tybee Alliance, was formed to allow for vacation rental owners, agents, realtors, businesses, local residents and more to participate in defeating these harmful efforts to end vacation rentals on most of Tybee Island.

Since May, Tybee Alliance has invested countless hours working with City Council to find a resolution to the concerns of residents, but Council has ignored the pleas of those who do not align with their agenda. They’ve concede that the behavior of guests and the professionalism of managers are not the issue as negative incidents are nearly non-existent. Instead, this small group of elitists have made clear that they simply do not want vacation rentals or the people who rent them on Tybee Island.

Tybee Island was founded as a vacation destination and has had 70% or more of the residential properties non-fulltime occupied for the entirety of its history. Now a small group of residents and a couple City Council members want to turn this public beach and historic vacation community into their own private island. This is a radical change that will kill jobs, hurt property owners and businesses, and make Tybee Island a less welcoming place for everyone.