Council hears update on short-term rental study

BENTONVILLE — The City Council on Tuesday night heard snippets from a study on short-term rentals.

In the last year, city staff started to hear questions and comments about short-term rentals in the city. Short-term rentals are housing units or rooms within housing units rented for a short period of time, typically less than 30 days, according to the presentation by Shelli Kerr, city comprehensive planning manager.

The City Council on Oct. 27 asked city planning staff to study short-term rentals.

On Jan. 22, there were 290 listings in the city for the next 30 days and 484 total listings over the past year, according to the presentation. Based on the city’s total housing units of 24,254 as of December, 1.2% of the housing stock is listed as short-term rental and 2% has been listed over the previous year. The biggest concentration of short-term rentals was in the downtown area and the primary listing form was Airbnb, according to the presentation.

Short-term rentals brought in just over $74,000 in taxes to the city last year, according to the presentation.

The state doesn’t have regulations regarding short-term rentals except there are specific taxes applicable to such businesses, according to the presentation.

Kerr said she hadn’t heard of specific problems or complaints related to short-term rentals in the city.

Several council members agreed this wasn’t an area needing to be regulated at this time.

The council also was supposed to discuss three rezoning appeals, but one applicant asked that two of them, from single-family residential to downtown medium-density residential at 403 S.W. E St. and from single-family residential to downtown medium-density residential at 342 S.W. D St., be taken off the agenda, which the council granted. The other rezoning appeal, from single-family residential to downtown medium-density residential at 301 S.W E St., had a notification problem and the council voted to send to it back to the Planning Commission.

The three rezoning requests were turned down by the Planning Commission on March 2.