The city of Brentwood may soon make clear its stand on short term rentals — they’re not allowed.
The plan and zoning commission at its meeting on Jan. 10 is set to put into writing what City Administrator Bola Akande wrote in a memo in November 2017, that the city wants to make clear that short term rentals, such as Airbnb, are prohibited in the city.
The city of Richmond Heights is considering allowing short term rentals: Richmond Heights council discusses short term rentals (Airbnb), Richmond Heights officials proceed toward Airbnb decision
It seems to me, after staying in several B&B’s last summer that there is a big difference between those that are owner-occupied and those that are absentee-owned. The former are homes and the latter are businesses. Can an ordinance allow only owner-occupied B&B’s?
When I travel I prefer to stay in AirBnBs. I get to know the neighborhood from the street level, not as a tourist in a hotel. I explore the local shops and the neighborhood restaurants. All people I know who use AirBnB do the same. All the complaints I read about always come off as the Mrs Kravitz type, who seemingly spend all their time peeking out from behind their curtains tsk tsk’ing every neighbor who hasn’t taken in their garbage bins by 5pm or removed their house decorations 5 days past the holiday. This is the new economy and the connected mobile generation. All the scaredy-cats have Nextdoor.com where they can shake their fist at the sky and complain about kids today. Or move to Wentzville where no one wants to stay.
Denigrating the people who prefer their neighborhoods actually stay neighborhoods? Their concerns are valid. I purchased a house on a quiet street in a residential area, with no expectation that the houses next to me would be rented out to different people on a regular basis.
Why make it a blanket rule though? Some places in brentwood forest or duplexes or buildings with apartments above should be more reasonably eligible for short term. Owners don’t get to choose their rental neighbors there; should we now complain that long term rentals shouldn’t be allowed? There’s no consideration for everything, just a full blanket NO.
Like Bill mentioned above, I would prefer if the city granted some leeway in regards to owner-occupied properties (essentially having short-term boarders as opposed to renters).
I also think that Conditional Use Permits could be granted for properties where Airbnb would be more suitable, such as some Brentwood Forest condos. Furthermore, a CUP would allow neighbors to voice their opinions to the city, give the city the ability to impose some regulations (maximum allowed cars, minimum stays requirements, maximum stay requirements, safety requirements, etc), and allow the city to force rental properties to meet certain safety requirements (this has been on the hot seat regarding these short-term rentals, and would benefit both the renter and the neighbors).
I actually live across the street from an Airbnb in Brentwood and I am not in favor of them after what I have witnessed. I bought a house in a community not in a hotel. Rental properties tend not to be maintained as well as owner occupied properties and Airbnb’s are “rentals on steroids”. People that rent Airbnbs do not contribute to creating a community; Airbnb renters do not observe occupancy rates, parking ordinances, etc. Currently we have a lot of “strangers” going in and out of the house. #buildcommunity
You got that right. There is a reason for zoning. Would someone buy a house next to a landfill, prison, fast food restaurant? Of course not. A BNB is essentially a hotel with “guests” coming and going at all hours all the time. This is not what you want when you buy a house. Not to mention the risk of child predators and other criminal elements taking advantage of naive homeowners trying to make a fast buck.
Good job guys! The more we can do to make our town less appealing to outsiders and businesses, the better! #buildthewall
How does clarifying the city’s stance on short-term rentals make our town less appealing to businesses and outsiders? I’m not sure about you, but I moved here for the good schools and safe streets – not to live next to a hotel. If you’re looking to spend a night or weekend here, I’d recommend getting a room at either the Drury Inn or the Marriott.
Look at the popularity of Airbnb. There are ALOT of people that don’t want to stay in a traditional hotel/motel. Those people will not be staying in the Drury or Marriott. Which means they will be staying in a municipality that does allow them. Which means they will be spending money in a different municipality instead of ours. Businesses (like the one I own) look at the openness and forward thinking of the community when deciding where to expand to. Brentwood is pretty unfriendly to business and stuck in our old fashion ways. Brentwood used to be heads and shoulders of Maplewood. Maplewood is now wiping the floor with us because they realized that being a bit more friendly to business and open to changes in the way we do business (like short term rentals) was the way to go.
I wouldn’t go as far to say that Maplewood is “wiping the floor with us”. Both are high-quality communities, but their respective city leaders have taken the two cities down different paths, and each has their own strengths and weaknesses. As much as I support local businesses, I don’t think that the residential neighborhoods are the place for them.
Being down the street from an Airbnb rental, I have had the opportunity to meet with some of the people who have stopped by our community. Most of them were professionals staying on business (usually either in Clayton or the city), and some (especially over the summer) were on driving tours across the country/midwest, particularly interested in the attractions downtown. From what I could tell, pretty much nobody I talked to had any interest in Brentwood, aside from it being close to the highway, and I fail to believe that they would really be spending money in Brentwood (at least in a hotel, there is a sales and tourism tax).