By James Windell
The City of South Haven has its first revised Short-term Rental ordinance since 2018. The South Haven City Council approved a much-debated ordinance at its meeting on Monday, March 17, 2025.
But getting there wasn’t easy.
In 2018, the city enacted an ordinance that required STRs to be registered and undergo annual inspections. The ordinance also mandated that owners of rental property either have a local property manager or to live near the property themselves. Since that ordinance went into effect, the number of STRs has increased and at the same time the growth of the STR business has brought with it more complaints and concerns.
Among concerns raised by residents of the city as well as by the City Council itself was the decrease in the number of long-term city residents, decreasing enrollment in local schools, a decrease in affordable homes, vacant dwellings during the winter months, and increasing levels of noise, traffic and on-street parking during the summer tourist season. These issues have been divisive – leading to considerable debate at City Council meetings as well as some residents fighting to ban STRs in many parts of the city.
For more than two years, the City Council has been diligently working on ordinance amendments, procedures and policies regarding the issuance of licenses, certificates, registrations, and occupancy caps for STRs. Unable to agree on a new STR ordinance that satisfied both sides of the controversial issue, the City Council passed six-month moratoriums on the issue during the past year. In December, 2024, the Council placed a moratorium on the city’s ability to accept any new applications or to process any new STR personal units.
An STR Workgroup was appointed by the City Council in February and that group brought back a revised STR ordinance proposal. That proposal featured various changes from previous proposed ordinances. Among the changes in that latest version were a new licensing ordinance, occupancy and parking requirements, a penalty schedule for violations up to $1,000, and a formal system for complaints. One of the key changes includes a new licensing requirement that all existing short-term rentals transition to this updated licensing system. Additionally, the ordinance introduced two distinct classes of STRs. Replacing the previous “STR Business Unit” and “STR Personal Unit,” there would be Class I and Class II STRs.
With more concerns about the viability of STRs if the cap on occupancy proposed in that version of the ordinance was approved, the STR Workgroup went back to work in the past week to hammer out a new proposal. The latest proposal removed restricted caps on occupancy for existing STRs.
It was evident at the Monday, March 17 City Council meeting that having relaxed the occupancy restrictions that there was a chance of passing the ordinance. After a few last-minute chances in wording for some sections, the City Council unanimously passed the latest proposed ordinance.
In making comments as the meeting came to a close, City Council members expressed relief that an ordinance was finally passed. Ward 2 representative Wendi Onuki said that everyone met in the middle and “Hopefully, this will move our town forward.”
Joe Reeser, Council representative from Ward 1, commented that the seven and a half years he has been on the City Council they have been struggling with an STR ordinance. He added that “We are not an apathetic community. People do care and they want to make the community better.”
He went on to say that as painful as it was the final ordinance involved both compromise and people working together. “Through it all, we came to a final ordinance that will be better than what we started with,” Reeser said.
