Maplewood officials on Tuesday passed ordinances to allow residents to rent out rooms in their homes for short-term leases — as many do worldwide with the popular Airbnb.
The votes were split the same way as in the past on the issue: council members Shawn Faulkingham, Barry Greenberg, David Cerven and Tim Dunn voting for the bills; and Karen White, Fred Wolf, and mayor, Jim White voting against.
White, in the past, has expressed concern of crimes being committed by people renting rooms; on Monday he only said there’s no way the city can insure that the renter is there while a room is rented, which is one of the stipulations.
After the meeting City Manager Marty Corcoran said in this case, like in any occupancy issue, the city doesn’t know if a law is being broken until a neighbor complains.
Maplewood business owner Brian Pelletier spoke in favor of the bill for the chamber of commerce. He said the chamber gets several calls a month from people wanting to spend the night in Maplewood, and are sent to other cities.
See also: Airbnb ordinance defeated in Maplewood, Bill to allow Airbnb in Maplewood returns
Adalina Mart, who has been to every city meeting where this has been discussed, said after the meeting, “People want regulation and that’s what they’re getting. There’s two pages of regulations, and we’re happy to comply with that.” She and her husband, Nick Deccio operated an Airbnb — renting a room in their home — until the city shut it down earlier this year.
Councilman Shawn Faulkingham explained the newly passed bill on Facebook:
So, a quick explanation of the passing of the Short Term Rental ordinance which covers businesses like AirBnB, Homeaway, Tripping, etc.
This all started back in March of this year. I had attended the National League of Cities Conference in Washington, DC and sat in a roundtable discussion about the “Sharing Economy” that included companies like AirBnB and Uber. Many cities around the country were experiencing issues with these companies, and the discussion revolved about what other cities are doing about it.
Some denied their ability to do business in their cities which many have ended up in lawsuits filed by these companies. Others have created ordinances in order for them to be taxed like hotels and many cities created ordinances to deal with life and safety issues surrounding these companies.
So a month or 2 after this, we received a complaint about an AirBnB rental in Maplewood; a host was renting out a room in their basement that was in bad shape. When we looked at the AirBnB site, we realized there were other hosts based in Maplewood.
At the time short term rentals were covered under our Bed and Breakfast ordinance which is very strict in where and what can be used for these, so we shut them down. So we then discussed creating an ordinance in which we could manage the life and safety issues around AirBnB and like companies that offer Short Term Rentals.
Creating this ordinance also makes the STR companies and the host responsible to know and understand that they need to get a Conditional Use Permit in order to operate. The City does not have the resources to check all the different websites, magazines and newspapers that may have offer STR in Maplewood. Creating a Conditional Use Permit process allows the public input in the process. So if there are concerns, they can be addressed. They will have to go before the P&Z board and the Council in order to get a permit to operate a STR.
So many have asked why create an ordinance. Just ban it. Well…not quite that easy. Just because we ban it, doesn’t mean people won’t do it. They will. And the only way we would know is if someone complains, which is not how we want Maplewood represented. Again, we don’t have the resources to monitor all the STR sites. Creating an ordinance now puts the burden on the companies and hosts to be properly permitted. Again the 2 main reasons to create the ordinance are life/safety issues of guests and to make sure neighbors have the opportunity to address concerns in a public forum.
Others have asked why it is a Conditional Use Permit process as it puts an undue burden on hosts that want to offer STR. A few members on the Council expressed concerns about STR’s bringing undesirable people to the neighborhood and to Maplewood; adding the Conditional Use Permitting process to the Ordinance allows most of those concerns to be expressed in a public forum so they can be addressed.
I suggest you read our Ordinance for STR’s; it has some rules that are stricter than other ordinances I have read regarding the same. I have a link to the Bill for the Ordinance (which was passed by a 4-3 vote October 13th, 2015) below. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Shawn Faulkingham
Councilmember Ward 3
Maplewood, MO