ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The rise in short-term rentals around Lambeau Field has the Village of Ashwaubenon making an ordinance change.
Ashwaubenon’s village board voted Tuesday night to require a six-night minimum stay for licensed, short-term rental properties.
Village officials say this is in response to nuisance complaints and residents claiming people renting homes on sites like AirBnB are ruining neighborhoods.
“This is like putting a three-story Holiday Inn Express right next to your house. That is what the neighbors don’t like,” said Ashwaubenon Village President Mary Kardoskee. “Some of our neighborhoods have so many short-term rentals there are no children in the neighborhoods anymore. If this continues, the impact is great.”
Most people who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting were owners or managers of short-term rentals and were opposed to this change.
“To sit here and say we’re ruining our neighborhoods, you guys let the Packers buy up all these houses around the stadium,” said short-term rental owner John Calewarts. “You let them rip down the houses, and now they get to do what they want. But the little guy, who’s actually trying to make a dollar, you say, ‘You can’t do that anymore.'”
Village trustees say they’ve heard from plenty of residents privately who don’t like the short-term rentals and support any change that limits the number of them.
“People using their bushes as restrooms,” said Kelly Servais, a village trustee, while explaining the resident complaints she has received. “People using their children’s swing sets inappropriately. It’s happening.”
Village officials say properties with short-term rental permits make up less than 1% of the residences in Ashwaubenon. But in the neighborhood directly south of Lambeau Field, they make up more than 7% of the homes, according to Kardoskee.
Kardoskee also noted Ashwaubenon has 70 short-term rental permits, compared to 27 in 2019.
Village officials say a state law change in 2017 left municipalities with limited options to control short-term rentals. Municipalities can’t limit the number of permits given out or the locations of permits through zoning.
The owners of the short-term rentals say this change tarnishes the investments they’ve made in the village and will shut down the business they’ve created.
“You will close down almost all of these businesses,” said Paul Steinbrecher, a short-term rental owner. “There is a few niche ones that are going to make it, but the majority of us will be out of business. There is just no way to make that work.”
Current permit holders are exempt from the six-night minimum requirement until July 1 of next year.
New permit holders must follow that requirement right away. They will also have to limit rentals to a 180-consecutive-day period each year. The current ordinance limits rentals to 180 days, but does not carry the consecutive day requirement, giving permit holders greater flexibility.
At the village board meeting, six people spoke against the ordinance change, while only one person voiced support. That is on top of at least 27 letters of opposition compared to 12 letters of support, which were all attached to the meeting’s agenda packet.
Ashwaubenon’s village administrator, Joel Gregozeski, says the board could potentially suspend the ordinance or at least parts of it when the community helps host the NFL Draft in 2025.
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