State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

How State Preemption Became a 'Serious Problem' for Local Governments in Florida

Route Fifty: ORLANDO — At a standing-room-only meeting at the Florida League of Cities annual conference last week, dozens of local officials from around the state commiserated over how vacation home rentals are impacting their residential neighborhoods and their inability to do much about it.

“We have five and six bedroom homes being advertised as ‘sleeps 40,’” Destin Councilwoman Prebble Ramswell told other Florida League of Cities members. “We have developers coming in and they are taking single-family residential homes and converting them into mini-hotels. We have six on one block. Each has five bedrooms, sleeps up to 40 and this is a permanent residential neighborhood.”

Read article