Arkansas City board approves conditional use permit for short-term rental at 311 Highland Drive

The Arkansas City board approved a conditional use permit at a public meeting to allow a short-term rental at 311 Highland Drive in the Hillside neighborhood, voting unanimously to adopt conditions intended to limit neighborhood impacts.

Planning staff described the request and said the property, built in 1959 on a little over a quarter-acre lot in an R-2 residential district, requires a conditional use permit under the city’s rules. Staff recommended approval with conditions, noting short-term rentals established before the city’s 2023 regulation were treated differently than new requests.

The planning staff summarized the proposed conditions as: "Maximum 5 guests per night. No pets allowed." He also said the city would "encourage" off-street parking and require the property to meet building and fire-code standards, including smoke detectors. The staff described the short-term definition used for the permit as the state statute definition: stays of less than a month.

Neighbors raised questions during the public hearing about daytime visitors, local contact information and enforcement. Pam Nystern, who identified herself as a next-door resident at 301 Ireland, asked, "When it gets dark, so like during the day, could 20 people be there? But they just can't stay overnight?" Planning staff said the guest cap was intended for overnight occupants and that daytime gatherings are not controlled by the guest limit.

Concern also focused on who would be locally available to respond if the rental generated complaints. Planning staff said the owner lives out of state and that Ron Shiner, who identified himself during the hearing, can be contacted locally; Shiner said he would "usually check it pretty often." Planning staff acknowledged there is not a guaranteed local management company for every short-term rental and noted that many listings use online platforms.

On enforcement, planning staff said, "At that point, it's a zoning violation, so we would just treat it like any other zoning violation, investigate it. And if they are truly in violation of whatever this was, then we would revoke it." The board discussed, and agreed to include conditions that require the property to meet applicable building and fire codes and to add language limiting automatic transfer of the permit on change of ownership unless the new owner applies to retain it.

After discussion the board took a roll-call vote to approve the conditional use permit with the proposed conditions. The vote was recorded as: Mike Berganini — yes; Lloyd Colston — yes; Brandon Jellings — yes; Chris Johnson — yes; Dwayne Eastman — yes; Cody Richardson — yes; Dottie Smith — yes. The motion passed unanimously.

The permit will be subject to the stated conditions (maximum five overnight guests, no pets, encouraged off-street parking, and building/fire-code compliance including smoke detection), and the board noted the city can address violations through its zoning enforcement process.

Votes at a glance: Conditional use permit for short-term rental at 311 Highland Drive — approved (7–0).