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LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WXIX) - A hearing that will determine the fate of two short-term rental homes in Butler County has been continued to Aug. 11.
Liberty Township Board of Trustees filed a lawsuit against the owners of two homes on Granada Court days after shots were fired at one of them during a May 3 after-prom party.
No one was hurt, but one of the bullets struck a window in the home.
More than two months later, no arrests have been made as the Butler County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate.
It was the first in a string of two other shots-fired incidents at short-term rental homes in Greater Cincinnati.
When gunshots rang out Liberty’s Crescent Moon neighborhood, the township had already notified the property owners that they were violating the zoning code with leases under 30 days.
They were also already discussing taking legal action.
Bullets flying around the neighborhood where several children and babies live were the final straw for residents. Some of them began complaining to the township about the rentals two years ago.
The township wants Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Greg Stephens to block the properties from continuing to flout the zoning code.
It remained unclear, however, as the hearing got underway Thursday whether the judge would temporarily block homes from entering into short-term leases while the lawsuit plays out or order them permanently stopped in accordance with the zoning code.
Or, the judge could side with the property owners who argue in court records that they are essentially grandfathered in and are not impacted by updates to the township’s zoning code in 2025.
The township’s top zoning official testified for most of the morning before the hearing resumed in the afternoon and was then set to continue next month.
This all comes as state lawmakers are considering legislation that, if passed into law, would block local control of short-term rentals.
Liberty Township and others across Ohio could lose the right to regulate short-term rentals to state regulation.
Real estate and business groups support House Bill 109 and Senate Bill 104.
But the Ohio Municipal League and township associations oppose them because they would block communities from:
The proposed bills call for the collection of lodging and sales taxes on short-term rentals. Both also require online booking platforms (like Airbnb and Vrbo) to collect and remit these taxes directly to state and local authorities.
State Sen. George Lang (R-West Chester Township) said while he still sees value in short-term rentals, he “mostly” agrees with Farrell.
“I think they should be allowed in residential areas, but that should be up to the local jurisdictions.”
Asked if he will support the current legislation, Lang responded: “I will not. ”I don’t think it has any traction in our caucus."
The man listed in an incident report as the Granada Court home’s owner, Jason Ross, has repeatedly declined to comment on the shots-fired incident and the lawsuit.
His lawyer also declined to comment for this story when we reached him on Wednesday.
The incident report states Ross told deputies he was the owner of the property and that it was rented out through “Air B&B.”
FOX19 NOW found the property listed on Vrbo.
The rules of the Crescent Moon subdivision’s homeowners association were changed by the developer to allow short-term rentals listed on Vrbo and Airbnb after many, but not all, residents were already there, according to an August 2024 letter to one of them from Fischer Homes obtained by FOX19 NOW.
Hoping to resolve the residents’ concerns, Fischer Homes reached out to the developer, seeking to resolve the concerns amicably, the letter states.
However, due to the developer’s control of the HOA rules, “there is a limit to what Fischer Homes can do.
“As of the date of this letter, the developer has refused to cooperate and discuss ways to resolve the residents’ concerns....the Crescent Moon community will continue to allow homeowners to rent out their homes on a short-term basis on websites such as Vrbo/Booking.com and Airbnb for the foreseeable future.”
Butler County property records show LRE 2 LLC purchased the Granada Court home and the one next door from Liberty Township Homes LLC in February 2024, paying a total of $2.175 million for those two properties and a third one in the neighborhood on Cordoba Drive.
However, a deeper dive into property records at Butler County Recorder Danny Crank’s Office shows that a few months later, in May 2024, both homes were sold by LRE 2 LLC at $725,000 apiece under land contracts to Plumtree Rentals LLC, and the purchaser’s signature on the contracts is listed as “Jason Ross, member.”
A land contract is similar to a lease-to-own agreement. Once the terms of the contract/purchase price are paid, the property’s deed is transferred to the new owner.
In this case, Plumtree Rentals LLC, with Ross as the purchaser, agreed to pay LRE 2 LLC monthly payments on each home of $5,733.25 plus 5% interest, the records show.
LRE 2 LLC’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
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