The community of Berne, Indiana, is the home of an annual Swiss Days festival and hosts Weihnachtsfest to celebrate Christmas. The Adams County city also calls itself the furniture capital of Indiana. There is good reason to visit there.
But if you check Berne out on the online reservation service, Airbnb, you’ll find only one rental home — a “cozy loft” — for $35 a night. There isn’t a lot of demand, apparently, for renting out one’s Berne home to travelers.
But that hasn’t stopped State Rep. Matthew Lehman, R-Berne, from introducing a bill that would bar Indiana cities and towns from implementing their own restrictions on such firms as Airbnb.
Instead, via House Bill 1133, the state would set the standards for short-term — usually 30 days or less — rentals of residential property. The bill passed 53-40 in the House and has been referred to the Senate.
Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel, unsuccessfully tried to add an amendment to the bill requiring owners of short-term rentals to pay an innkeeper’s tax. That concept, according to the interpretation of some, was solely an attempt to keep Carmel a resident-only community.
The amendment and, indeed, HB 1133 are misguided.
Zoning decisions should be the responsibility of local municipalities and their residents.
Renting a cozy loft in Berne for the weekend is far different than renting a $240-a-night apartment with a “panoramic view” of Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indianapolis. Or a $495-a-night Victorian farmhouse in Nashville.
That difference is also reflected in a community’s mood about short-term rental homes. Residents in Berne, Nashville and Indianapolis shouldn’t fall under the same zoning and property rights guidelines. Planners in these cities and towns generally know what is best for their neighborhoods while balancing what’s good for business. And they should come to these decisions based on community input.
Lehman’s bill tries to strip that decision-making responsibility away from these communities.
The Berne state lawmaker may be acting as the voice of the unheard neighbor, the guy or gal who doesn’t want transient travelers traipsing in and out of the house next door. But that is why neighbors should either talk to one another or have their dispute resolved by local authorities, whether it’s in Indianapolis or Berne.