Magnolia Springs drafting ordinance concerning short-term rentals

By Jessica Vaughn
Posted 8/5/20

MAGNOLIA SPRINGS - Magnolia Springs town council is working to draft an ordinance that will address short-term rentals within the town. While concrete details haven’t been worked out, the council …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Get the gift of local news. All subscriptions 50% off for a limited time!

You can cancel anytime.
 

Please log in to continue

Log in

Magnolia Springs drafting ordinance concerning short-term rentals

Posted

MAGNOLIA SPRINGS - Magnolia Springs town council is working to draft an ordinance that will address short-term rentals within the town. While concrete details haven’t been worked out, the council expressed interest in creating the ordinance and getting it in place for the community. The current ordinance does not allow any short-term rentals within Magnolia Springs, although it has recently been brought to the council’s attention that certain homes do offer short-term rental services.

“Essentially when they do offer short-term rental services they’re operating a business, and people that operate a business in this town have to have a business license,” said Mayor Kim Koniar. “At the very minimum they have to get a business license or they’re nonconforming to our ordinance. So we either change our ordinance or we put a stop to it.”

No citizens have complained about the short-term rentals to the town at this time. Many of the council feel like offering the service in Magnolia Springs would be beneficial to the area.

“We could revise our ordinance to allow short-term rentals with regulations,” said councilmember Andrew Monaghan. “I think it’s actually good for Magnolia Springs because I know that this sends a lot of business to Jesse’s, people come down here and use our amenities and whatnot. I think we ought to at least get some regulation over it and get some money out of it.”

Monaghan said some short-term rental ordinances address how many people are allowed to rent per room and require working smoke detectors within the home and multiple exits for guests in case of an emergency. Without an ordinance in place, he states people could be renting out of a shed and the town has no way to regulate it. With a proper ordinance, he believes it could be a good thing for the town.

Items the council mentioned they would be considering for an ordinance are business license fees for this type of business, safety measures and protocols for short-term rental homes, and ways to handle any noise complaints or problems caused by renters.

Before moving forward, letters will be sent to those currently operating short-term rentals within the town. Council plans to research short-term rental ordinances further and to bring the topic back during the August work session for further discussion.

For more information on Magnolia Springs, visit www.townofmagnoliasprings.org.