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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 30, 2023 Page 4 occupied really have no ordinances related to that situation. She thought that being a business is quite different than renting a room to a roommate in a long term situ- ation. She also thought and hoped the City would look at limiting this and limiting it within a geographic area. This is a very central location, she can see why this would be attractive, and she is not opposed to it overall but thought the City should look to limiting the number of licenses and at the density in addition to the taxes. She indicated these properties are not zoned for commercial or high density yet there are a number of units next door and there have been a number of instances where someone has pulled into her driveway more than once a day to turn around to park in front of her house because they are staying next door. She also has a teenage daughter who has commented that people are smoking outside behind the neighbor's house and the smoke is coming into her window,which faces their back- yard. She has a daughter who is not comfortable inside her own home so outside of erecting a six- or eight-foot fence, there really would not be a way to block that. She likes her neighbors as they are lovely people but she does wake up to new people and she is not sure if their backgrounds have been checked. She does not know who they are or where they are from and they do have an impact on her fam- ily. Mayor Roe asked if there are any applicants at the meeting who would like to com- ment on their application. No one came forward so Mayor Roe closed the public comment and thanked the public for their comments. Mayor Roe explained the license for short-term rentals that are regulated in City Code do pay a hotel lodging tax,which is the same percentage that hotels pay. The City does collect that as long as they are licensed and participating in the program, which they are obligated to do. Short-term rentals that are owner occupied are not covered by the same requirements so they are not currently charged the hotel lodg- ing tax. He explained the theory at the time it was adopted by the City Council was that operating as a non-owner occupied is more like a lodging provider in a hotel business so that is why there is that distinction. The theory also was that owner occupied units would have the buy in of that owner occupied person to take care that renters are behaving properly, would be dealt with if not, and also to keep up the property because that is where they live. He noted that for anyone doing a short- term rental that is non-owner occupied, the City's requirement during the off sea- son, October through May, is a minimum stay of seven days. During the peak season,May through October,the minimum stay is ten days. That requirement was put in place by the Council at the time this was enacted to severely limit the oppor- tunity for people to rent for a few hours to have a gathering or party or for a short period of time. He explained he did note the checking on the property itself and its prior history not being relative to the current applicants and he asked Mr.Trudgeon what staff checks on related to this as well as noting some of the other comments and suggestions made by the public regarding this.