At last night's council meeting there was a public hearing to discuss the possible revocation or suspension of the license for a short term rental. This was an AirBNB located in the northeast section of the city.
Last February the council passed ordinances which tightened up the licensing requirements and provided for penalties for units that did not comply. This unit, rather than being used by a single family on a vacation was becoming a mini hotel, and disruptive to the residential neighborhood. Non-family related work crews were coming in and causing a variety of problems.
Citations were issued and after postponements by the owner's attorney a trial was held in municipal court. The ownership did plead guilty to a variety of charges and fines were levied. The kicker though was that 1/2 of the fines were suspended for 12 months as long as no other violations occurred.
Personally I thought the judge's action stunk, and said so when I addressed the council. They established the laws for the operation of short term rentals and the penalties in those ordinances were being ignored to a certain degree. Action needed to be taken to show that if people were going to operate short term rentals, in residential neighborhoods, that they had to abide by the city's code.
All members of the council present and voting, voted to revoke the license effective 1/1/2025.
