The New Orleans City Council today takes up the thorny issue of short-term rental rules in the city.
The Council will have a bit of a balancing act on their hands in an expected preliminary vote.
Real estate analyst Wade Ragas says it's a matter of economic development versus neighborhood preservation...
"The problem is that you need a very detailed set of rules that don't prevent short-term rentals from existing, but provide safeguards for the public."
"And those could include fire and safety issues, parking issues, adequate earning for the public, and adequate earnings for the person renting their house, or a part of their house or their condominium."
Ragas says having adequate regulations for fire and health, safety and parking and controlling how the properties are operated are very important.
"The regulatory structure needs to be carefully and well thought out," says Ragas. "And it needs to be not punitive. It needs to foster good development rather than be a detriment to development."
"I would say that the best place for these developments would include streets like Canal Street above the first floor, more of the French Quarter than they are allowing, and it might include areas in Marigny."
"But it also ought to, perhaps, disallow uses that are in primarily residential areas. And that could include the Upper and Lower Garden District and, conceivably, Carrollton.
And he says, where short-term rentals are allowed they should be allowed where zoning is conducive to such a use...where the zoning restrictions makes them most reasonable.