photo by: Screenshot/Airbnb.com

Some of the approximately 90 whole-home short-term rentals listed on the Airbnb website for the Lawrence area are pictured in this screenshot from Monday, Aug. 17, 2020.

City leaders will soon consider adopting new regulations for short-term rentals where the property owner lives elsewhere that aim to correct concerns regarding the city’s original permitting process.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider adopting a new ordinance for whole-home Airbnb and other short-term rentals that includes restrictions that aim to prevent a concentration of such rentals in residential neighborhoods, among other limitations. The new proposal comes after the commission rejected a plan earlier this year that more broadly allowed for such rentals.

This is the second time the commission will consider the licensing regulations this year. In February, the commission voted unanimously to reject the first proposal from city staff that more broadly allowed whole-home rentals and asked staff to bring back a proposal with stricter limitations on the concentration of such rentals.

Specifically, the proposed changes to the ordinance would permit whole-home short-term rentals as a use by right citywide, eliminating the current requirement for operators of such rentals to apply for a special use permit that the commission could potentially deny. However, restrictions would limit the concentration of such rentals in residential neighborhoods, and operators — individuals or business entities — could only have a maximum of three such rentals citywide. Licenses would have to be renewed annually, rentals inspected every two years, and there would be an objection process for neighbors, which could lead to a license not being granted or renewed.

Using the city’s licensing system as opposed to the special use permit process would mean whole-home, short-term rentals are regulated under the same process as traditional long-term rentals and owner-occupied short-term rentals, where the homeowner typically rents out a room, section of the house or an accessory dwelling unit. Moving the rentals under the licensing system, but with certain restrictions, is meant to address several concerns that both the previous and current commission has expressed about the current permit process, which operated only briefly after it was created in the fall of 2018.

The previous commission suspended that portion of the program in the spring of 2019 due to concerns with how the process functioned. Under the now-suspended program, someone who wanted to operate a whole-home rental had to apply for a special use permit, which ran with the land and could remain in place permanently, even when ownership of the property changed. Commissioners expressed various concerns with that process, including patterns that showed a concentration of the rentals in the city’s central neighborhoods, the effect on affordable housing, and an inconsistent and unpredictable permitting process for applicants and neighbors.

As proposed by staff, the new regulations would limit the number of whole-home rentals in residential areas, including both single-family and multi-family neighborhoods. Under the proposal, an application for a whole-home rental license in a single-family neighborhood would not be accepted if the rental were located within 500 feet of another whole-home rental within the same neighborhood. For whole-home rentals in multi-dwelling areas, the application would not be accepted if more than 2% of the units on the premises or lot were already whole-home short-term rentals.

The proposed ordinance also includes avenues of recourse for both short-term rental operators and neighbors. The ordinance allows neighbors within 200 feet of a rental to object to an application or renewal application and allows operators to appeal licensing decisions. The city’s licensing process remains in place for short-term rentals where the homeowner lives at the property.

The City Commission will convene virtually at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, with limited staff members in place at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The city has asked that residents participate in the meeting virtually, if they are able to do so, using temporary meeting procedures put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Directions for submitting public comment and correspondence are included in the meeting agenda that is available on the city’s website, lawrenceks.org.