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Residents Remain Split Over Airbnb Regulations at Council Meeting

Columbia City Hall
Meiying Wu / KBIA

Residents stood before the Columbia City Council on Tuesday to say their piece on short-term rentals, with widely varying solutions to the yearslong debate. While some told their horror stories as neighbors to a short-term rental, others shared their wonderful experiences being both a host and a renter in short-term living spaces.

Previous comments from the public, read by Mayor Brian Treece, included everything from completely banning short-term rentals to asking the council to wait on permanent decisions for both hosted and unhosted spaces.

As public comment continued for nearly three hours, residents brought up issues such as noise complaints and a shortage of city resources which prevented enforcement at unhosted rental properties.

The proposed rules for short-term rentals, such as those provided by Airbnb, would dictate that single-family dwellings would be limited to three guests, and other dwellings would be limited to four. Additionally, the property owner would be required to be on the premises outside of work hours, unless they designate a contact person with the city. For the property to qualify as a hosted short-term rental, the owner must also live at the residence at least 270 days out of the year.

If a property is to be unhosted — meaning there is no point of contact with the city and the owner does not plan to live there for more than 270 days a year — the property owner would be required to obtain a conditional-use permit from the City Council.

To read more, visit our partners at the Columbia Missourian.