City Plan Commission delays Airbnb decision due to fact that several of its members do not seem to know what Airbnb is

If you live in Kansas City, Missouri, and you’re renting out your home or apartment on Airbnb, you’re breaking the law. The current laws on the books prohibit rental arrangements that last for less than 30 days.

The city is trying to figure out how to make Airbnb legal, or, as it recently stated: “balance the rights of property owners to rent out their homes, and the rights of neighbors to preserve and protect the character of their neighborhoods.”

Last month, city staff released a draft for a new ordinance governing short-term rentals in the city. They spent two years crafting it. You can peruse it here. Among other things, it would require owners of short-term rental units to get licensed and permitted by the city and get three-quarters of your immediate neighbors to give an OK to the rental.

Now begins the grueling but necessary process of hearing what the public thinks about the proposed ordinance. (Airbnb has already weighed in; it says the city should “go back to the drawing board.”) The proposed ordinance will be heard by the City Plan Commission; then the City Council’s Planning, Zoning & Economic Development Committee; and then must be signed off on by the entire Kansas City, Missouri, City Council.

Today, the City Plan Commission heard public testimony about the ordinance. Among those who spoke were:

*Airbnb evangelists warning of a millennial-creative-class apocalypse in KC if the city moves ahead with regulating short-term rentals

*Neighbors of current Airbnb locations who are sick of loud parties

*Representatives of the local hotel association asking that regulation and taxation of Airbnbs be brought to a level playing field with hotels

*Bed-and-breakfast owners who also want to see a level playing field

*Some people who just like to hear themselves talk 

This sharing-economy stuff is tricky business for local governments. But it’s even hairier when the local leaders charged with making decisions on the laws aren’t dialed in to the complicated dynamics at play. The City Plan Commission typically hears zoning applications and development plans. But Airbnb is a whole other kettle of fish. It’s more of a philosophical issue than a land-use issue — and certainly much knottier than deciding whether to rezone a parking lot.

Several times during Tuesday’s discussion, members of the commission asked questions that were so off-base that it seemed to indicate they lacked a tight grasp on what an Airbnb even is. After public comments, Babette Macy, chair of the commission, even said as much. 

“It’s become clear to me during the discussion that some members of our commission do not understand what we’re discussing today,” Macy said. “And so I think it’s hard for us to make a judgment on code modification when some of us don’t even know what they’re discussing. I think we need to continue this [the vote on the ordinance] because it would not do it justice if we don’t know what we’re voting on.”

So, that’s the plan. A work session will be held on June 20 at which city staff will give a presentation to the City Plan Commission on short-term rentals and answer any questions the commission has. The work session will be open to the public, but no public comments will be allowed. The City Plan Commission will convene again regarding the ordinance on August 15, when another round of public comment will be permitted and (presumably) a decision about the ordinance will be rendered. 

In the meantime, the city is holding off on pursuing complaints about Airbnb rentals, a staff member said.