A request to obtain a Special Land Use Permit to allow nightly rentals at 529 E. 2nd Street, Blue Ridge, will be heard by the Blue Ridge Planning Commission Tuesday, December 1.
The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
Applicants Donna and James Nichols claim that there will be no adverse effects to come from the use, and the property “is under tight control of a property manager and the owners.”
The application indicates that the “traffic would be no more impacted than if a homeowner with two vehicles lived there.”
The application states that the permit was first applied for early this year, and “no notification was received that it had not been approved. COVID-19 barred any rental activity in May, (and the) lodging tax has been paid to the City of Blue Ridge monthly.”
“We, as the buyers and now owners, were never informed that it was not permissible to do so under any ordinance,” the application says. “The short-term rental certificate was applied for and, we assumed, approved without notice otherwise. Every effort has been taken by the owners and rental property management company to comply with any known requirements and tax liability. Lodging taxes have been paid since May 2020 on each months’ rentals.”