Riley County planning staff to draft short-term rental rules requiring current taxes and local responsible agent

Amanda Webb, Riley County planning director, told the Riley County Commission on April 7 that staff will draft amendments to the county’s short-term rental (STR) regulations requiring owners to be current on taxes and fees and to designate a local responsible agent.

“We've been talking about this for a few sessions now,” Webb said, summarizing months of work sessions. She described two changes the commission asked staff to prepare: adding a licensing requirement that STR owners be current on applicable taxes and fees, and tightening the responsible-agent requirement so the agent is both resident and present in Riley County while guests occupy the property.

The proposal Webb presented would add a licensing provision requiring the property owner to be current on applicable local, state and federal taxes and utility fees before a license or relicensure. On responsible agents, Webb said the draft language would require the responsible agent to “reside and be present within Riley County while guests are in residence at the short-term rental.” She said the wording aims to avoid legal arguments over residency by including a present-in-county requirement.

Commissioners discussed possible spacing or density limits for STRs. Webb showed examples used in other jurisdictions — 200 feet, 500 feet and 1,000 feet — and mapped those buffers over denser parts of the county. Commissioners said Riley County is largely rural, with only a few denser pockets where STR proximity and parking have been reported as local concerns. Several commissioners voiced a preference for a 500-foot separation standard for new STRs and noted that any new rule would need to grandfather existing licenses.

Webb said staff will not immediately add a business-occupancy clause and that the short-term rental changes will be folded into a broader Land Development Regulations update. The process will include formal notice, review by the planning board, and return to the commission for final action; Webb estimated the process will take a couple of months.

County legal counsel advised the commissioners on the constitutional limits the county faces when regulating STRs. Counsel said a residency requirement is less likely to trigger a commerce-clause challenge so long as the responsible agent requirement does not force the owner to be the resident agent.

What happens next: planning staff will prepare formal draft amendments that add (1) a licensing requirement confirming owners are current on taxes and fees; (2) a responsible-agent requirement that the agent reside and be present in Riley County while guests occupy the rental; and (3) proposed buffer options for further review. The draft will be sent to the planning board for review and then returned to the commission for a formal vote. Commissioners also asked staff to include language to grandfather existing legally operating STRs.

Context: Riley County has been discussing STR regulations over several work sessions. Commissioners and staff said parking and occasional large groups have driven interest in clearer standards for agent availability, tax compliance, and proximity of multiple STRs in denser neighborhoods.