STARKVILLE — Voices rose and exchanges became heated Tuesday at the second public input session for Starkville’s proposed restrictions on short-term rental properties in single-family residential neighborhoods.
About 50 people attended the forum at City Hall where supporters claimed short-term rentals like Airbnbs threaten the integrity and character of residential neighborhoods meant for families, while opponents argued the restrictions are government overreach and potentially harmful to the local economy. Mayor Lynn Spruill, Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk and Ward 5 Alderman Hamp Beatty oversaw the forum.
The initial proposal included a $300 yearly license, a maximum of 30 nights or 10 weekends to rent out a property per year and a requirement for owners to live in the houses they rent out. In the past three weeks, the proposal has been amended 10 times, most recently on Tuesday.
The current proposal is a $25 license fee with no night limit and no residency requirement. A property’s permit would be revoked for a year if the city receives three complaints with citations from the police or code enforcement division within a year.
The proposal only affects short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods and doesn’t apply to multi-tenet facilities like apartment complexes.
Short-term rental owners still took issue with the proposed policy, mainly the requirement that the city would notify all property owners within 160 feet of a short-term rental property and the 24-hour complaint line the city would create, as well as give neighbors the rental property owner’s personal contact information.
“I know it’s done for sex offenders, and I’m not trying to be glib or funny about it, but that’s the only comparison I can see,” said David Buchanan, who owns several short-term rental properties in Starkville.
Releasing rental property owners’ contact information gives the neighbors more of an incentive to call the police if they have something against the presence of Airbnb in the neighborhood, he said. He also denounced the proposed maximum of two permits per residential property.
Beatty said residential neighborhoods have value, and Buchanan asked if an empty house is less valuable than one being rented out and taken care of. He said Beatty’s idea of a “traditional” neighborhood might not be traditional anymore, and Beatty conceded the point.
The city once again held a separate session for the short-term rental policy proposal. The discussion about the unified development code, which will include the final version of the policy, was also at City Hall on Tuesday, but only a few people attended.
The contingent of supporters
More than 52 guests stayed at a house in Oktibbeha Gardens via Airbnb from April to October, Julie Baca said at the previous public input session.
On Tuesday, Baca described an incident in which an Airbnb guest damaged her property and tried to avoid taking responsibility for it. She did not know that her neighbors’ house was an Airbnb and would have preferred to know why there were strangers in the neighborhood on a regular basis, she said. Other residents shared similar concerns.
“I think every person in this room would feel the same way if they had a daughter at home and there are loud, raucous people who would not have any place in that neighborhood otherwise and don’t even have any ties to the community, and they’re going to be there a week or two and gone, and you don’t even know (the neighbors) are renting the house,” Baca said.
Opposition and contention
Buchanan lives in Madison but spends the majority of his time in Starkville for work, and he claimed the city’s short-term rental policy is “being controlled by a few interests.”
“The city has 25,000 and you’re what, 15 or 20 (of those people)?” he asked Baca and her group, to which Baca responded, “You’re only 30 and you don’t even live here.”
Multiple instances of raised voices and crosstalk led local pastor Johnny Buckner and furniture store owner Rick Underwood to call for a more civilized discussion.
“Instead of each individual thinking (about) how many times they can rent and how much money are they going to make, what’s Starkville going to look like in five years and 10 years?” Underwood said. “I think we should all be working together, (and) I think we’re all here to have a better town.”
The Planning and Zoning Commission will have a public hearing for the code on Nov. 12, and the board will have two public hearings at its December meetings before voting on the code on Dec. 17.
The board of aldermen can revisit the policy down the road if they believe it is too strict or too lenient, Sistrunk said.
“I would ask that y’all trust us to do our job and know that we will continue to work at this,” she said. “We’re not trying to put Airbnb out of business, not at all. We’re trying to be as accommodating as possible for somebody who has a vacant property or a second home, but we’re also at the same time trying to balance the idea of there being traditional neighborhoods.”
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