Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Des Moines council approves ordinance regulating short‑term rentals after amendment
Summary
The Des Moines City Council approved Ordinance 25‑001 on Sept. 25 to regulate short‑term rentals (STRs), adding annual neighbor notification, a 200‑foot notice radius and a noise‑monitoring threshold; the measure passed after an amendment on rental length and a 4‑3 vote on that amendment.
The Des Moines City Council passed an ordinance limiting and regulating short‑term rentals in residential neighborhoods on Sept. 25, approving draft ordinance 25‑001 as amended.
The ordinance, adopted after a second reading and changes requested by council members, defines short‑term rentals as lodging provided for at least one overnight but not more than 30 consecutive nights and requires owners to notify nearby neighbors annually. The measure also allows the city to deny or revoke a short‑term rental permit if a property generates three or more police calls for service within a 12‑month period and requires owners to retain noise‑monitoring system data for at least 30 days and to provide it to the city on request. The ordinance sets the mandatory noise monitoring trigger at 80 decibels for longer than 30 seconds to capture sustained disturbances rather than short spikes.
Why it matters: Council members said regulation was needed because STRs…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
