Downtown Kearney, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY — The Kearney Planning Commission continued their discussion regarding code amendments to short term rentals and downtown residences during their meeting on Friday, Nov. 21.
In September, the commission held a lengthy discussion regarding the amendments aimed at short-term rentals and residences in the downtown area.
Melissa Dougherty-O’Hara, City Planner, presented code amendments addressing short term rentals and downtown and group residential in the Unified Land Development Ordinance.
“Staff is proposing to implement a permit and regulations for Short-Term Rentals to assist in addressing code enforcement complaints and as a way to track short-term rentals to ensure compliance with the hotel occupation tax that should be collected on any short-term stay. Implementing regulations for Short-Term Rentals provides the ability to balance these businesses with hotels and motels,” according to the Planning Commission memo.
“Additionally, Staff proposes updates for residential units to be built in the CBD zoning district on the first floor and clarification to the Group Residential Density table for consistency with current practices,” per the memo.
One part that was discussed was “Clarify the ability for one-level buildings to have residential units at the street level, subject to approval of the Board of Adjustments.”
At the September meeting, board member Brent Yaw made his position clear that he was not in favor of street level residences in the downtown area, he noted it would set a “terrible precedent”
At the end of the September meeting, the commission approved naming members to sit on a sub-committee to discuss both short-term rentals and downtown residences.
Dougherty-O’Hara spoke during the report section of the November meeting and told the commissioners that the sub-committee had met twice, in October and mid-November.
The committee looked into other communities that regulate short term rentals, which include Omaha, Lincoln and Norfolk. Dougherty-O’Hara also noted the City of Hastings reached out regarding the steps Kearney is taking as they look to regulate their own short-term rentals.
The question of Airbnb rentals within the community had come up at past meetings. Dougherty-O’Hara said she had one response from the company which said that they let the municipalities handle enforcement and that repeat offenders of regulations could be removed from the host list.
One item that was added to the code amendments was an appeal process through the Board of Adjustment that would allow people to appeal a decision if they disagreed with it.
Board member Yaw raised the question of how these new amendments would be enforced effectively within the community.
Dougherty-O’Hara said that the new amendments give the city more tools when it comes to enforcement and that codes are enforced to the best ability of the city staff.
Vice-Chairperson Richard McGinnis said that any enforcement would likely come from complaints about a short-term rental property and this would allow the city to begin looking into possible non-compliance issues.
The proposed code amendments for short-term rentals and downtown residences were continued to the December meeting to allow for further discussion.
