Columbia City Council meets with Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss short-term rentals

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia City Council met with the Planning and Zoning Commission Monday evening for a joint work session regarding the years-long discussion of short-term rental regulations.

Council and commission members reviewed public feedback and research gathered by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Andrea Waner said the public will get a chance to weigh in on proposed regulations in the fall. All of the proposed rules are available on the city's website. Waner encouraged the public to research the regulations.

"It can be kind of complicated when we're thinking through all these situations and scenarios and a lot of people have a lot of questions," Waner said.

Monday's joint work session came just days after the commission met last week to provide results from a survey, as well as discuss proposed changes the commission hopes to make for short-term rentals. In 2020, City Council struck down a proposal made by the commission and requested that another ordinance be written.

During last week's meeting, commission members noted that they want regulations to be added because of the housing crisis the city is in.

Last week, Commission members said plans are to add regulations to short-term rental properties because of the state of housing in Columbia. Members of the commission said too many properties are being taken over by Air BNB owners looking to make money, and adding these regulations could change this.

More than half of respondents to a survey support having minimum stands for properties and the preservation of affordable housing within the city. But a majority of respondents did not support limitations on the location of short-term rentals, limitations of short-term rental licenses or stipulating the number of days a property can be rented.