CADILLAC — Short term rentals, a hot topic in Cadillac, expected to be discussed Tuesday night at the Cadillac City Council meeting.
Council members are expected to vote on a resolution that would recommend amending an ordinance to allow short-term rentals in the general business district.
Ezra Schippers, manager of Einstein Cycles said he’s aware of a nearby business owner who owns property at 820 Mitchell Street, who is trying to turn his property into a short-term rental.
“It brings people into the area; they can use the downtown. It’s within walking distance per se, and get down to the park and get to the library. You can see the downtown area,” said Schippers.
Schippers said he supports it.
“I understand, like the contention with the short-term rentals that, you know, the lack of housing in the area, we don’t want to consume potential permanent housing for vacation rentals. That being said, we’re very tourist related town, and I think that vacation rentals in the relative downtown area is not necessarily a bad thing,” said Schippers.
He says he can speak from past experience. It will bring in more foot traffic.
“The vacation rental that’s right up over there, the short term, the big orange house, that we’ve drawn some business from there, you know, they walked, and they’ve rented bikes from us, and we had a group of ten, like rent out flat tire bikes,” said Schippers.
Just down the street, Aaron Fekete, the owner of Owl Eye Coffee Roasters is also on board.
“That’s what we need. It’s great for downtown as a whole. I think everyone wins. When they’re here, they’re going to spend their money. We want them to stay the closer to downtown or even better, right on downtown, right on the Main Drive, because when they stay there, they shop there, they eat there, they walk there,” said Fekete.
Fekete said it not only gives their business a boost but also might open up the door for more short-term rentals near downtown.
“There tends to be a domino effect, from this, but just because more people do that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t or we shouldn’t hear their voices too, and their situation too,” said Fekete.
He said he feels the city council clamped down too tightly on short term rentals and that has impacted growth.
Fekete said he plans to turn the upstairs of his downtown business into a short-term rental.
“It’s going to more than quadruple what I’m currently making on a conservative level, quadruple the income for us, which we need, because, you know, the economy, prices rising, our salaries don’t rise unless we do something about it,” said Fekete.