Avondale Estates, GA — The Avondale Estates City Commission will meet on Wednesday, April 13, at 5:30 p.m. for a regular meeting and work session. The City Commission meeting will be held via Zoom.

To join the meeting via Zoom, click here. The webinar ID is 898 5751 9608.

To view the meeting agendas, click here.

During the work session, the board will continue discussing the residential sanitation fee, as well as Airbnbs and other short term rentals. The city commission began discussing short-term rentals at the March 23 work session to clarify the rules regarding short-term rentals in the city and think about whether the board would like to amend the city’s zoning code.

The Avondale Estates City Commission updated its zoning code in 2021. Before the zoning code rewrite, residents were not allowed to rent any portion of their property for any length of time. Under the new zoning code, short-term rentals are restricted in the following ways:

– Short-term rentals that are less than 30 days for an accessory dwelling unit are prohibited.

– Short-term whole house rentals are also not allowed.

– But with a conditional use permit and a business license, property owners who use their home as their primary residence, are on the premise and serve a meal can rent out space within that home for shorter periods of time and operate as a bed and breakfast.

To qualify for the conditional use permit and business license, the homeowner would have to be on site to rent out their space.

There is one distinction to this. If an accessory dwelling unit does not have a separate kitchen facility, then it can be considered a candidate for a short-term rental. But if an ADU has a separate kitchen facility, it can be rented out for 30 days or more, but not less than 30 days.

During the regular meeting, the city commission will consider approving an agreement with Lord Aeck Sargent for on-call design services for the city. LAS would help the city with ongoing planning of the downtown and historic neighborhoods from a physical design and urban planning standpoint.

Potential tasks would include:

–Reviewing proposed development concepts by others within the downtown and historic districts

– Analyzing existing and prevailing setback conditions at corner lots within the historic district

– Conducting a North Avondale/ Covington Highway corridor study

The agreement would not include design services beyond massing level design or architectural renderings. The agreement is for an amount not to exceed $22,000 and will end in August.

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