Short-term rentals can now be rented out for weekends in Oneida County.
For years, Oneida County put a limit on Tourist Rooming Houses, which include things like AirBnBs.
Rentals of six days or less were prohibited in certain zones like single family zones.
The ordinance change still allows for only one rental in a seven-day period but how many nights the renters stay is flexible.
Three Lakes is one of several towns pushing for the change.
“Meanwhile, Three Lakes is watching visitors, including the snowmobilers that are here right now, go right across the border to Vilas County where they are welcomed with reasonable, flexible policies,” said Jacqui Sharpe, a Three Lakes resident and Executive Director of the Visitor’s Bureau.
Some county board members against the change raised concerns of the it adding to the housing crisis.
“If you've talked to someone in your district that lives in a single family that is for this, I'd love to hear that, because I haven't yet to talk to anyone that's for anything,” said supervisor Billy Fried. “I'm trying to protect single family. We have a housing crisis here. There's plenty of other districts that you can do it for less than seven days.”
During public comment, Sharpe said rezoning is burdensome for a town the size of Three Lakes.
“Three Lakes has been told to ‘just rezone’ since 2023. The problem isn’t just the complexity, it’s the capacity. For small towns with one or two part time staff and volunteer plan commissions, rezoning is a massive administrative lift. It shifts the burden onto the people least equipped to handle it, just to fix a problem that can be solved by a single line of text in the zoning code,” said Sharpe.
Others spoke in favor because of the tourism dollars it helps bring to communities.
“We have constituents that are small business owners, that are entrepreneurs, and this helps support that,” said Supervisor Collette Sorgel. “It helps support economic development, because it does keep more money in the area versus going to other counties.”
The ordinance language changes from “Tourist rooming house rentals of six (6)-consecutive days or less are prohibited” to “Tourist rooming house rentals shall be limited to no more than one (1) rental per seven (7) day period” in the following zoning districts:
(1) District #1B Forestry
(2) District #1C Forestry
(3) District #02 Single Family
(4) District #08 Manufacturing/Industrial
(5) District #15 Rural Residential
The City of Rhinelander updated its short-term rental ordinance in July 2025.
