Minimum 7 night stays/only 180 days/year for ALL STRs – Newly proposed anti-STR Liberty Grove Ordinance
We’re landing in your inbox today with some unfortunate and urgent news and as a community of STR owners in Liberty Grove, it’s time to take action as our rights as property owners and small businesses are at stake.
In recent meetings, the town board members seemed reasonable, tabling past proposed ordinances and verbally stating they were not considering highly divisive regulations. However, a new proposed ordinance was released Friday containing a 180-day rental cap, 7-day minimum stay requirement, as well as living on-site primary residence requirements.
Click HERE to read the FULL PROPOSED ORDINANCE
This ordinance is being presented (and possibly voted on) this Wednesday, June 14th at 6:00PM and we need all hands on deck for those who can make it to the meeting to vocalize concerns and oppose this ordinance. We know advocating for ourselves at meetings has been successful in the past, and we need your help again. Further, if you know any Liberty Grove residents or neighbors that are willing to come to the meeting and say: we don’t have problems, this doesn’t seem fair. This was really powerful in meetings in Sister Bay.
Meeting Details:
Town of Liberty Grove public meeting
Special board and plan commission
Date: Wednesday, June 14th
Time: 6:00PM
Place: Town Hall, 11101 Old Stage Road
You CANNOT attend via ZOOM.
Please also consider writing an email to town board and plan commission members so they understand the level of opposition to this ordinance in the community.
Board Member Contact Info:
Chairman: Janet Johnson jjohnson@libertygrovewi.gov
Supervisor: Nancy Goss ngoss@libertygrovewi.gov
Supervisor: Dan Watts dwatts@libertygrovewi.gov
Supervisor: Cathay Ward cward@libertygrovewi.gov
Supervisor: Billy Appel bappel@libertygrovewi.gov
Plan Commission Contact Info:
(Ask another Plan Commission Member to forward your email to Cheryl Culver, Ann Miller, Bill Surbaugh and Paul Bokelmann)
Chairman: Nancy Goss ngoss@libertygrovewi.gov
Member: Dan Watts dwatts@libertygrovewi.gov
Member: Cathy Ward cward@libertygrovewi.gov
Emails not available for Plan Commission members: Paul Bokelmann, Cheryl Culver, Bill Surbaugh and Ann Miller. Please send their emails to tlibertygrove@gmail.com and ask that they forward your message as soon as possible so the plan commission members are able to see the message before the 6pm meeting.
Talking points that may be helpful as you craft your communications:
- The growth of STR’s in Liberty Grove is not as drastic as people may think and we want to understand where the urgency is coming from to control growth that we are taking such severe action with this type of ordinance instead of enforcing the ordinances currently in place.
- Village of Liberty Grove STR Home/Condo Units (listings for individual places to stay) based on DCTZC data
- 2018- 213 listings
- 2019- 212
- 2020- 205
- 2021- 201
- 2022- 217
- One year growth 8%, Two year growth 5.9%, Three year growth: 2.4%, Four yr growth 1.9%
- Like you, we care deeply for Door County and all the small businesses that make this place special. The 7 night/180 day consecutive rental limitations being presented will cause huge harm to the area especially in the off-season. These restrictions will result in STR’s renting from May – October drastically reducing the number of visitors in the slow season.
- Further, 30+% of families prefer to stay in STRs in Door County and the typical stay in Door County is 3.5 nights, therefore businesses get two groups of guests to patronize their businesses. If only one group is allowed per week, then the likelihood a family will go to the same place twice is quite low. This applies to the arts, restaurants, gift shops, not to mention the impact on the cleaning staff and others who service STRs. A change to one stay every 7 days for existing STRs would cut local business from STR guests in half.
- Especially now, we need to support our local businesses and local families. Covid has caused so many businesses to close and now is the time to support our local economy. Putting this 7/180 restriction on STR rentals will mean that more of our locals will be out of work and more local businesses will fail.
- These restrictions will hurt our own as STR owners in Door County are made up of primarily Wisconsinites and locals with 35% living in Door County, 75% in WI and only 13% in IL.
Click Here for the AGENDA & PACKET
Action Items:
- Join our Liberty Grove Action Team by contacting Michael Servais at Michael Servais We have 4 municipalities considering more restrictive STR rules. We don’t have enough volunteers. Now is the time to step up!
- Attend the meeting on June 14 at 6:00 PM. We encourage STR owners to show up in numbers! We need you to be there.
- Write directly to the Village Board and and Plan Commission members listed here.
- Learn more about what Home Hosts is doing to represent STR owner’s with local governments. Become a member of Home Hosts. We take a partnership approach with towns and villages, but if they break the law, we will take legal action to stop them.