bigtunaonline / Depositphotos.com
KEARNEY — The Kearney city council voted 3-1 to approve new code amendments related to short term rentals and downtown residences during their meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
The council had previously discussed the amendments at their previous meeting on Jan. 13 but voted to table the items to allow for further discussion with residents and city staff.
The new code amendments were generally aimed at clarifying the status of residential units on the street level in one-story and multi-story downtown buildings and addressing a grey area in the code regarding short term rentals.
Prior to the code amendment coming to the city council, the Kearney Planning Commission had discussed the amendments extensively. Ultimately, the planning committee voted 6-1 to send the code amendments to the city council.
Melissa Dougherty-O’Hara, City Planner, appeared before the city council to present a few changes that had been made to the amendments.
Dougherty-O’Hara said the updates dealt with short term rentals; they included that now the maximum occupancy of a residence will now be determined by the total number of sleeping areas.
Another area of concern at the previous meeting was the application fees. Now the first-year application and permit are $100, and the annual renewal fee is $25.
Other changes included removing the word noise from verified complaints. It was also noted that there will be a three-strike rule when it comes to verified complaints, but this will reset each year.
Votes were taken on the amendments for both short term rentals and downtown residences. The motions in favor passed 3-1 with council member Tami James Moore having the dissenting vote.
Mayor Jonathan Nikkila was absent during the meeting.
When asked about her vote, Moore said she has a different perspective on the situation as she owns short term rentals. She felt some of the requirements were arbitrary and asked who would provide the oversight for the permits that the short term rentals owners now have to pay for.
Following the vote, council vice-president Randy Buschkoetter thanked the citizens for the discussion throughout the process. “Hats off to the entire community,” he said.
Council member Alex Straatmann said the discussions had been “very constructive.” He said the feedback from the community was helpful, rather than people just opposing the amendments outright.
