In a special meeting of the Midway City Council on Monday, July 29, the council heard about possible changes to the to the ordinances regulating short-term rentals (STRs) and air bed and breakfasts (Airbnb) as well as an approach to regulating the new Kentucky medical cannabis laws.

Midway-Versailles-Woodford County Planning Director Steve Hunter told the council that currently, ordinances to regulate STRs and Airbnbs last spring prevented them from Residential-1 (R-1) and Residential-2 (R-2) zones, with strict conditions on agriculture and other residential zones. Hunter said when the new ordinances went into effect, “We counted three or four in Midway and it’s now gone up to 15.” 

Further, he said the commission has received several complaints about them and that they are acting on all of them.  He said they are in various stages of being processed.

Councilmember Logan Nance said he was in favor of not allowing any of the STR/Airbnbs in any residential zone, including R-3 and R-4. “These are a real threat to affordable housing in Midway with people buying up properties and turning them into businesses,” he said. 

Mayor Grayson Vandegrift added, “We are seeing housing prices go up but not for good reasons.”

Grayson repeated his concern from earlier meetings about owners just factoring possible fines into the cost of doing business and passing them on to the renters. “Our goal is to set a fine which is high enough that is not just a cost of doing otherwise prohibited business, but dissuades them from operating illegally,” he said.  

Hunter said this would mean taking the fine structure from criminal to a civil process, which would also mean the city wouldn’t be dependent on a prosecution by the county attorney or a district court proceeding. 

Councilmember Sara Hicks agreed, suggesting the fines should be increased from the current rate to $1,000 for a first offense and $2,500 for a second offense.

Councilmember Patrick Hall also pointed out that “a lot of jurisdictions are also regulating stronger on the front end instead of just on the back end through enforcement by significantly increasing the business license fee to operate in a permissible zone.” Hunter said there are good examples from Lexington and other cities and said these are called “supersize business licenses.”

Medical cannabis

The council also discussed the options to regulate medical cannabis as opposed to just letting state regulations, which have yet to be enacted, apply. Hunter presented a possible ordinance scheme that he said, “comes right out of the statute . . . (and with) the locations of schools and childcare facilities, there is really only a very tiny sliver of land such a business could go on located in the furthest point at Midway Station.”

Vandegrift said that even though it’s likely there is no realistically available location for a dispensary in Midway or for one of the other four types of permissible medical cannabis businesses, “It makes sense to have something on our books in case the legislature makes changes to the law.”

There was some discussion about doing what the Woodford County Fiscal Court is doing and putting the issue to the voters in a referendum. However, the council decided that this made little sense based on the cost to the city to do a referendum and the possibility that even if licensing is approved, there is no real location for it to be located.

Vandegrift said council members should consider these options, discuss them with residents and businesses and then be prepared to make decisions soon.

Funding requests

Council approved three requests for donations recommended by Vandegrift: $2,500 to Woodford Theater, which Vandegrift said was left out of a budget due to a misunderstanding; $1,500 to the Juneteenth Celebration, an increase of $500; and, $1,000 to the Woodford County Human Rights Commission.

Board appointment

The council approved Vandegrift’s appointed of Emily Bays as an alternate to the Midway Code Enforcement Board.

Ordinance

Council heard the first reading of an ordinance for the solicitation of proposals from electric utilities, which included a new section regarding the cutting or thinning of trees.