City officials will hold daily meetings at City Hall this week for anyone with questions about proposed restrictions on Airbnb rentals, after the city received about 30 emails, primarily from Realtors, concerned about them.
Community Development Director Sungman Kim said there were misunderstandings he felt needed to be cleared up before Thursday’s public input session for the proposed code. The meetings will be held at 2 p.m. through Thursday, he said.
Airbnb allows users to rent out their properties — which can be an entire house, an apartment or even just a private room — to guests. The service uses an online marketplace where guests can browse available listings and book in advance. Starkville is a popular short-term rental destination thanks to its proximity to Mississippi State University and its athletics programs.
Only three people showed up to Monday’s meeting: Jerome Nettles, a Realtor with ERA Town and Campus Realty; and Airbnb hosts Jason Camp and Heather Osborne.
The proposed new code would allow short-term residential rentals with restrictions: a $300 yearly license fee, a maximum of 10 weekends or 30 nights rented per year and the requirement that the vendor live in the house permanently.
Kim said the city’s goal is to limit commercial use of residential areas. Nettles said the concern makes sense for second homes and investment properties, but the restrictions are too much for people’s primary residences.
City officials began considering placing limits on short-term house rentals in May when Oktibbeha Gardens resident Julia Baca told the board of aldermen that roughly 17 guests had stayed at her neighbors’ house via Airbnb in a six-week period and expressed concerns about noise and safety in the neighborhood.
Osborne, Camp and Nettles all said the proposed restrictions are an overreaction from the city.
“I don’t see where the squeaky wheel is that needs to be greased,” Nettles said. “If we had a resident or two come to a meeting, that is a very, very small percentage of the entire city of Starkville.”
Osborne, who previously told The Dispatch she would have to stop using her property in central Starkville if the proposed restrictions pass, offered to let city leaders stay in her Airbnb free of charge so they can understand how the short-term rental system works. They also need to know how many properties would be impacted by the restrictions before passing them, she said.
“How, if they don’t know the number of properties, can they possibly know the economic impact of this regulation, whether it be through tourism dollars, through property values decreasing, all of that?” Osborne said after the meeting.
The first of four public input sessions for the proposed code will be Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Starkville Sportsplex. Kim said he hopes to hear more opinions at the three meetings before then.
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