Staff warns charter and state law limit how Sanibel can change short‑term‑rental and density rules

Planning Director Paula McMichael urged the commission to recognize two legal constraints shaping any transfer program: state law limits the city’s ability to change regulation of short‑term vacation rentals enacted after 2011, and the city charter requires voter approval for measures that increase density.

“Once we make changes to that program, we run afoul of state law,” McMichael said, explaining why staff recommended focusing transfers within the Resort Housing District and using an amendment to the Sanibel Plan plus code changes to authorize transfers through a conditional‑use permit. She also said the city is currently grandfathered for existing rules but that expanding certain programs could trigger state‑law limits.

Commissioners and the city attorney discussed the sequencing: staff will draft plan and code amendments and present them to City Council for public hearings; any final ordinance authorizing increased density would require a referendum under the charter. The planning commission’s vote to forward the staff framework does not itself change the law—council and voters must still act.