FAYETTEVILLE, Ark — Short-term rentals have become popular as an alternative to hotels when traveling and the City of Fayetteville wants to make sure they are regulated.
On Tuesday (Dec. 1) the Fayetteville City Council discussed an ordinance that’s been in the works for more than a year.
Right now, the hundreds of short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vacation Rental by Owners are not regulated by the City of Fayetteville and the city wants them to be as the number of short-term rentals grows.
If the ordinance is approved, short-term rentals would be classified into two types of residences. The first would be full-time residences.
“That means the owner lives there and they are either renting out a room or for example, with bikes and blues they may leave for a time period and rent out their home for the weekend, but it is owner-occupied,” said Mary McGetrick with the City of Fayetteville.
McGetrick says the other type is a full-time short-term rental which is subject to density limitations and would be required to get a conditional use permit. The number of occupants of these rentals no matter the number of bedrooms would be capped at eight.
“As we continue to grow, the region becomes known for outdoor recreation and mountain biking and things like that, we are only going to see an increase in people traveling to the area, so we want to be prepared for that growth and we want to make sure that we are doing this the right way,” McGetrick said.
Short-term rental hosts, Stay NWA are in favor of some type of ordinance because right now short-term rentals are operating illegally and they want to bring some legitimacy to the business, but there are some parts of this ordinance they disagree with like the occupancy cap.
“Bigger properties cost more and typically a bigger property like a four- or five-bedroom house, those owners who spent more on that house are relying on that additional income to be able to cover their notes,” Taylor Rayburn said.
Rayburn and his wife own four short-term rentals and manage more than 40 for other owners. He doesn’t agree with the part of the ordinance that restricts how many short-term rentals you can own.
“Guests are coming in and they are putting their safety of themselves and their family in our hands, so I think there is a safety aspect," Rayburn said. "Hotels, motels have to adhere to certain rules and regulations, I don’t see why that should be any different for someone operating a short-term rental."
The Fayetteville City Council will be discussing this ordinance at its meeting that is going on Tuesday night via zoom. If there is any decision, we will be sure to let you know.