The city of Norman has launched an attack on “Fort Bordendale”, the pool at Steve Borden’s home, which he rents by the hour through Swimply, an online marketplace for private pools open to paying customers and gamers.
He received a code compliance letter from the city in May. “VIOLATION: Renting a swimming pool is a commercial use that is not permitted in residential areas,” he said, before clarifying what is and what is not permitted in someone’s home. .
Another notice arrived just a few weeks ago, dated August 12.
Pool rental by the hour, brought to Oklahoma by Swimply last year, is not mentioned in the code. It contains a section on “home occupations,” which are generally permitted, according to the May letter from code compliance inspector Steven Canary.
But Canary wrote that several professions are not allowed: auto repair; hair salon; beauty salon; carpentry work; dance classes; medical or dental office; painting of vehicles, trailers or boats; private schools with organized classes; child care facility; radio or television repair; padding; restaurant; and nursing home.
Pool rental is not listed, but not really an occupancy. In any case, the code doesn’t cover it, Borden said, after consulting with Swimply’s legal department. Canary could not be reached for comment.
On Friday, two more pools in Norman and 45 in the Oklahoma City metro area were listed on Swimply. Only in Norman, it seems, does private pool rental come up against the town hall.
But Norman zoning prohibits it, spokeswoman Tiffany Vrska said by email.
“The manner in which rentals on Swimply are inconsistent with permitted residential uses in the R-1 Single Family Dwelling District in Norman,” said Vrska, communications manager. “These uses are defined in the zoning ordinance or set forth specifically in District R-1. Instead, a non-residential portion of the property is used as a rental location for commercial events, and commercial activity of that nature is not permitted under District R-1.”
She added: “The owners have been contacted twice and further action by the Town of Norman to resolve this issue is being assessed.”
Has a neighbor mentioned this Swimply rental pool in Norman?
Borden said he believed the city received a complaint from a neighbor near his home at 620 Summit Bend in east Norman. The letter from the city arrived shortly after his promotion Fort Bordendale — so named because he and his family love Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — on his neighborhood Facebook page, he said.
“We waited a bit” after receiving the letter dated May 18, Borden said, “but we started again. There’s nothing in there that specifies swimming pools.”
Almost three months have passed. Then came another code enforcement letter, dated August 12.
DETAILS: Zoning Violation (421.1) Commercial rental of a swimming pool is not an approved use in this zoning district. Commercial operations and advertisements must cease within 48 hours of the date of this letter. Thank you! “
Borden said he was led to believe that the first letter was a formality that the city would not necessarily enforce. After receiving the second letter, he thinks again. He emailed Canary, comparing his pool rental to an Airbnb short-term rental house. Borden said he made about $2,000 renting out his pool in 2021.
“I am more than willing to work with the city to find a resolution to this matter,” Borden wrote. “As this is a newer concept, I think it’s in (the city’s) interest and in my interest to find a way forward that will satisfy all parties involved. It’s not because there is no specific code written for it that makes it illegal. . ..”
“Please let me know what we need to do to move forward. There are several pools in our area and many more in the surrounding communities. This is not something that will vanish.”
Borden said he wasn’t too worried about the situation, since “we’re coming to the end of the swim season,” but it needs to be resolved.
This could lead to a new municipal ordinance, but probably not, according to Swimplywhose legal department guided Borden. Swimply has dealt with this before, most recently in Palm Beach, Fla., where city officials said earlier this month pool rentals were illegal, which Swimply disputes..
Either way in Palm Beach, Swimply maintains that in Norman, it’s clear as the salt water in Borden’s pool that what he and his wife, Jennifer, and a few others are doing in Norman, is legal.
“First, as a relatively new concept of home-equipment sharing, Swimply does not exist in their code. Not existing in its code does not mean it is prohibited,” Swimply wrote to Borden. “New activities and new products appear all the time and a government cannot simply say that since it has not yet recognized it, therefore it does not exist.”
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Swimply argues that a government needs to address new products and regulate them through the democratic process, and pass an ordinance, which Norman did in 2020 when he passed an ordinance to manage short-term home rentals in response to Airbnb’s popularity.
Swimply said the ordinance, which defines a short-term rental as “the rental of an existing or otherwise permitted residential structure or any part thereof,” could cover the rental of swimming pools, and the city might require Borden and others to rent pools to get a license, but “they’ll have to do that formal assessment.”
Senior business writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at [email protected].
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