GULF SHORES, Ala. - Discussion surrounding a proposed tourist residential rental overlay district resurfaced at the Gulf Shores City Council’s committee of the whole meeting on Monday.

  According to city leaders, the proposed district would recognize that certain property owners along West Beach Blvd. and in other select areas of the city have historically bought business licenses for the purpose of short term rentals to tourists.

  “Properties with an active business license for short term renting and considered to be operating under the purpose for which the license was issued will likely be allowed to continue operating as they do now, under a grandfather clause,” Planning Director Steve Foote said.

  “A new ordinance, that remains undecided at this point, would allow us to place restrictions on new short term rentals within the district as well as those properties that have a discontinuance or somehow lose their grandfather clause. “The new district would also allow us to prohibit short term rentals in parts of the city outside of these recognized areas.”

  According to city officials, the current process for operating a short term rental is not much more than obtaining a business license. The district along with a new ordinance with teeth will help better regulate these types of rentals.

  The remaining debate amounts to what methodology should be used, when creating the new ordinance, to provide protection against the common problems that have been associated with short terms rentals.

  In a memorandum to Mayor Billy Duke and Council members, Foote cites noise, garbage, illegal parking, and number of guests as issues of concern in regards to short terms rentals within areas zoned owner occupied single family or duplex housing.

  Several city leaders suggested placing a limit on the number of individuals allowed at short term rentals, while others such as Police Chief Arthur Bourne argued that some issues will go beyond the number of individuals.

  “We need to address complaints not the number of people, we can have 25 people in a house not causing a problem,” Bourne said.

  “However, six or eight people drinking can cause problems, but we’re going to run into the problem of people seeing 20 or 25 people not doing anything but they’re going to call us because of the sheer number of people.”

  The number of parking spaces, bedrooms, size of a house were also mentioned during the meeting as factors that could be used to form restrictions and regulations.