Mount Morris officials considering short-term rentals on campus

MOUNT MORRIS — An ordinance that would allow buildings on Mount Morris’ historic campus to be utilized as limited short-term rental units was sent back to the Planning Commission for further review.

The proposed ordinance would not automatically apply to campus buildings if passed in the future. Instead, building owners first would have to petition the Planning Commission, the Mount Morris Village Board and a public hearing to have the property rezoned to C-3: Campus Business District.

Currently, the campus buildings are zoned C-1: General Business District.

“The whole point is we’re offering a new option, but they have to ask for the zoning if they’d like to have it,” said Jeff Bold, Planning Commission chairperson.

On Nov. 28, Mount Morris Village Board members unanimously voted to refer the proposed ordinance back to the Planning Commission.

Village President Phil Labash said he and members of the Mount Morris Economic Development Group asked the Planning Commission to look into zoning that would allow short-term rentals.

The ordinance defines a short-term rental as “a separate dwelling unit located within a multi-unit building that has its own sleeping, kitchen and bathroom facilities and is rented for a fee for less than thirty (30) consecutive days and no more than sixty (60) days in a twelve (12) month period to the same occupant. Short-term rentals include vacation rentals.” Each floor of a building zoned C-3 can have a maximum of two short-term rentals or apartments, per the ordinance.

“It would bring kind of some vacation-style lodging to our downtown, which is a very unique place,” Labash said. “I think it’s kind of a really good addition. It gives people some options.”

Apartments could not be located on the first floor of a campus building, even with C-3 zoning, but can be on the second floor and above, Bold said. There still could be no more than two apartments per floor, he said.

“We don’t want to put R-2: Multi-tenant Residential on the campus,” Bold said. “Our R-2 allows for apartments of 480-square-feet or above and multiple [apartments] on all levels, which means you could have as many as 12 apartments in a building like that, and that’s not the purpose of those buildings on the campus.”

The Planning Commission will meet on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. in the village board room at Mount Morris Village Hall. At that time, there will be a public hearing on the ordinance.