Good Tuesday morning, Alexandria!
☀️ Today’s weather: Expect clouds to dissipate, revealing mostly sunny skies with a high near 62. A calm wind will transition to a northwest breeze at 5-8 mph in the afternoon. On Tuesday night, it will be mostly clear with a low temperature around 38 and a steady northwest wind at about 6 mph.
🚨 You need to know
Patch reported that the stricter short-term rental guidelines were approved at a City Council meeting on Saturday.
The new guidelines tame the current wild west of Airbnbs and other short-term rentals in Alexandria.
The new regulations establish a permit requirement for operating short-term rentals, along with guidelines and standards for denial or revocation of a permit if the property becomes a nuisance. Included in that is a limit on occupancy that, with a few exceptions, also limit the size of parties and gatherings at the units.
According to the staff report:
Staff also propose the creation of a Short-Term Residential Rental Permit which would authorize the operation of short-term rentals in any residential dwelling unit and in any zoning district which permits residential dwellings provided the operator can meet occupancy, parking, and fire safety requirements. As part of the permitting process, the operator would be required to notice abutting properties, providing contact information and ways to submit complaints to them and the city. If a short-term rental becomes a nuisance through a track record of code and ordinance violations, the city will have the ability to revoke the permit, an ability which does not currently exist.
Patch reported that city staff said the permitting will be phased in with “gentle enforcement” to start.
📈 Monday’s most read
The following are the most-read ALXnow articles for Feb 24, 2025.
- Notes: Beyer urges National Science Foundation to reinstate employees fired last week (2685 views)
- DASH removes bus and trolley stops on King Street in bid to boost reliability (1547 views)
- ACPS safety report shows increase in fights but overall decrease in incidents (321 views)
📅 Upcoming events
Here is what’s going on today in Alexandria, from our event calendar.
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