A 22-year-old man was shot at a short term vacation rental on the 1000 block of W. Riverview Dr. in Glendale in May. The same house reportedly saw a guest drown in the Milwaukee River in 2024. At this week’s common council meeting, Glendale took a hard look at how it regulates short term rentals. While Whitefish Bay has not had the same level of headline grabbing issues with short term rentals, our village board took similar action in November of last year to regulate those types of rentals more closely.
How It Started in Whitefish Bay
A group of neighbors on the 4700 block of North Larkin Street spent the better part of 2025 organizing, documenting their concerns, showing up to village board meetings, and collaborating with village staff. The result was the unanimous passage of an ordinance at the November 17th village board meeting — Whitefish Bay’s first comprehensive regulatory framework for short term rentals.
The spark came from a single Airbnb that opened on North Larkin in January 2025 and, according to neighbors, never stopped being rented. Residents described a revolving door of renters, a property manager who wouldn’t respond to anyone, trash going weeks without collection, and a general erosion of the block’s stability. They brought their concerns to village leadership, who directed staff to draft an ordinance.
What staff found when they started looking at the time: there were 17 active short term rental properties in Whitefish Bay and more than 70% of them were operating without a license from the North Shore Health Department. The police department stated that they had received four calls over the prior year across those properties (each call was for a separate/distinct house – in other words, no single house incurred multiple calls).
What the Ordinance Does
Village staff drafted rules requiring anyone operating a short term rental to obtain an annual village license for $300. The application requires a Wisconsin State Department of Revenue sellers permit, a North Shore Health Department permit, proof of short term rental insurance, and notification of all property owners within 200 feet of the property.
The key restriction implemented is a 7-day minimum stay, the most restrictive the village is legally permitted to impose under Wisconsin state statute, and an occupancy cap of two guests per bedroom plus two additional occupants. Property managers must respond to complaints within 12 hours of an outreach. Three violations from any combination of police, code compliance, or the health department within a 365-day period triggers license revocation. Operating without a license at all exposes owners to daily fines.
Wisconsin’s Complicated Legal Landscape
One reason Whitefish Bay’s board was so focused on threading a legal needle: municipalities across Wisconsin (and the country) that have tried to crack down on short term rentals have found themselves sued.
In July 2025, the Wisconsin Realtors Association won a court case decided by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. The court struck down Neenah’s ordinance requiring short term rental properties to be the primary residence of the applicant, ruling it conflicted with Wisconsin’s right-to-rent law. In another 2025 case, the Village of Summit had attempted to regulate short term rentals through general police powers rather than through its zoning code — and lost on procedural grounds.
Fast forward to 2026
The Village shared with the WFB Buzz that three licenses have been issued for short term rentals to date. There are an additional two applications that are pending approval as those two locations work to obtain their State Department of Revenue and North Shore Health Department permits. No applications have been rejected to date.
When performing an [admittedly very unscientific] experiment myself, 13 properties showed up in the village limits of Whitefish Bay on Airbnb (using no parameters on number of guests, length of stay, or period of stay). Only 1 property showed up on VRBO, which was a duplicate of a property also visible on Airbnb. When filtering by weekend availability, four properties showed up, which would not align with the minimum 7 day ordinance.
The Village also shared that they have received written and/or verbal confirmation from other property owners stating they are not actively operating as a short term rental despite still showing up in the booking platforms. While ironing out the compliance details as the ordinance is still in its infancy, the Village will likely rely on information displayed in the online booking platforms rather than those written/verbal confirmations going forward as an indication of a rental being operational.
Raw Emotions Shown
Similar to the Whitefish Bay board discussions on the topic last year, the Glendale Common Council was largely sympathetic to the cause of residents hoping for stronger regulation of short term rentals in Monday’s meeting. The ordinance used similar language to that used in Whitefish Bay’s and passed 4-2.
Emotions were raw in the Glendale meeting and from what I could see watching online, one individual was removed from the meeting by police after repeated outbursts. For context, no one I spoke with in our village could recall needing to remove an attendee at a Whitefish Bay meeting in at least the past decade!
With three licenses issued, two pending and at least 13 listings apparently live, the gap between the ordinance on paper and the rentals in practice will be something to watch in 2026.
What do you think, Bay Neighbor?