Staff proposes short‑term rental licensing and safety rules; commission creates ad hoc subcommittee

City planner Melissa Durbia O'Hara laid out proposed short‑term rental (STR) regulations aimed at capturing hotel occupation tax revenue and addressing health‑and‑safety complaints. "We have the right to regulate it from a health and safety perspective. We have the right to tax it," Durbia O'Hara said, and described an annual licensing requirement, definitions for sleeping areas, and minimum safety measures such as smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and two means of egress for sleeping areas.

Staff told commissioners they logged roughly 12–13 STR‑related complaints in the past 12 months and estimated 20–40 advertised STR listings depending on platform and search method. The draft fee structure is a $100 permit application and a $100 annual renewal. Commissioners raised practical enforcement questions: several asked whether the city can force private platforms to remove listings and how the "three‑strikes" complaint process would protect due process for property owners. One commissioner summarized a recurring concern: "If we don't have the teeth to remove them, all we're doing is putting words in a code that good people will follow and bad people will not."

Rather than adopt the code text, the commission voted to table code amendments 2025‑01 and 2025‑02 to the November 21, 2025 meeting and formed an ad hoc subcommittee (members Rickard, McGinnis, Malone, Baker) to work with staff and stakeholders on enforcement language, appeal procedures, and peer‑city comparisons. Staff said there will be a compliance period (60 days) after adoption and that city administration has already added STRs to the hotel occupation tax.