Maplewood planning and zoning commission members gave the OK Monday night to Maplewood’s second city-sanctioned short term rental, using Airbnb.com. The vote was 5-1.
Lamira Martin, at 7433 Zephyr Place, in Maplewood, was told her request to operate a short term rental will continue on to the city council, though she said she hadn’t read the ordinance — passed last year — and didn’t know a few of the requirements when asked. City assistant manager, Anthony Traxler, said she should read it. She said she would.
Two of her neighbors on Zephyr spoke up in the meeting — one was all for it and the other was all against.
Connie Stein said she lives next to Martin and has “no problem at all with it.” She said Airbnb is all over the world and the next time she travels she plans to stay at one.
Neighbor, Leah O Leah, on the other hand, said having a short term rental on the street is like having a tourist home on the block. She said the ordinance should be written, “instead for it to be possible for things to go right, should be written for it to be impossible for things to go wrong.”
Her chief complaint was a lack of limits. She pointed out that it could be rented for 29 straight days, be open one day, then be rented again for another 29.
Martin asked O Leah, in the meeting, if she had any specific complaints, and she didn’t.
Martin said her rental is similar to a studio apartment in her basement, and is up to city code. She said she had about 70 renters in the past year, and all but one were “lovely.” The one that wasn’t insisted on booking and renting, even though Martin told her she wasn’t going to be there. Martin said she now knows how to prevent this from happening again.
At this point, any Airbnbs operating in Maplewood needs to be approved by the city. The first was approved in February.
Questions about ECC traffic flow, sidewalks
The planners for the new ECC would like to make Burgess Lane two-way just to the entrance of the ECC parking lot, then one-way to the steps of the ECC — in a circular pattern — so it’s not a two-way that dead-ends at the steps.
Traxler said changing the road from two-way to one-way would require changing the subdivision ordinance, which planning and zoning can’t do. He said they should talk to the city attorney about what to do next.
The plan also didn’t show a sidewalk on the south side of Burgess because of the closeness of a house. The commission requested a redesign of the road alignment — shifting it to the north — to fit in a sidewalk on the south.
See also: Short term rental (Airbnb) bill passes in Maplewood
