JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – A poll of registered voters at Jacksonville Beach found a majority of beach residents want various regulations on short-term vacation rentals, according to the University of North Florida's Public Opinion Research Lab.
The poll, taken over six days earlier this month, also found the majority of Jacksonville Beach voters support contracting with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department for fire services rather than continuing to fund its own fire department.
Asked what they thought was the most important issue facing their community, 21% of Jacksonville Beach voters answered crime, 15% said homelessness and 9% said development/growth.
Most important issues to Jacksonville Beach voters
There are currently no regulations of short-term vacation rentals in Jacksonville Beach beyond rules on nuisance behavior such as noise, parking, garbage and other life-safety issues. The UNF poll found that a majority of residents would like short-term vacation rentals to be required to include smoke detectors, including ones specialized for the hearing impaired have a designated responsible party available 24/7; abide by maximum occupancy limitations' and be held to off-street parking standards.
If city officials decide to take action on enforcing new regulation standards for short-term vacation rentals it could affect locals’ ability to rent out their properties as conveniently.
The survey finds 46% of voters support the city of Jacksonville contracting out its fire services to the city of Jacksonville. Support was relatively equal between Republicans and Democrats.
For more information on the details about the methodology of the survey and additional crosstabs by partisanship, sex, education, race and age, visit UNF.edu/coas/porl.