In May 2020 City Council approved an amendment to the Planning and Zoning Code to modify the definition of Dwelling Unit and Tourist Home.
The minimum stay must be more than 30-days if someone is advertising on the short-term rental websites, anything less would be in violation of what was adopted last year.
Basically, true short-term rentals cannot legally exist in Worthington. This decision was a result of short-term rental abuses throughout the city over the past few years. Some proactive residents brought this issue to Council’s attention and we moved to improve the code.
Since then, other residents have noticed some potential issues stemming from month-to-month rentals - increasing the number of uncommitted residents in neighborhoods. I am looking into this and will work with city staff to explore options.
If you become aware of a possible violation related to the short-term rental regulation, please let me know about it and I will have the city’s Code Enforcement Officer open an investigation. He will then verify if there is a violation, and will then reach out to the property owner to correct the violation.
If the violation is not corrected, we will then take them to Mayor’s Court to correct the violation where they will likely have to pay court costs and a fine. The city typically gets compliance prior to going to Mayor’s Court.
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