Should Air BnB (short term rentals) be regulated in Sioux Falls?

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The short answer is YES, but it is complicated. I’m all for regulating this industry but we should probably only do some small changes instead of broad sweeping changes that will hurt the industry.

One thing to remember is that most of the people who manage and own short term rentals in Sioux Falls are local owners who use local contractors and local goods and services. In other words any capital made from these rentals is circulated back into the local economy unlike a franchised hotel.

Minnehaha county has dialed back a bit on their recommended regulations;

Regulations for these short-term rentals would include:

  • A maximum occupancy of no more than three people per bedroom,
  • Requiring a minimum of one off-street parking space per guest bedroom,
  • The properties must be registered with the state as a vacation home,
  • And contact info for the owner/manager of the rental must be both submitted to the county planning department and displayed within the home.

I think two off-street parking spots is plenty. But instead of regulating how many people can stay in a room or how many cars can park there there should be regulations when it comes to registration of the property (state, city and county). There should also be quarterly health inspections, a small registration fee and a BID tax.

The city has just been mulling the idea, but there is talk they want to remove short term rentals from residential neighborhoods. First the obvious, if these are NOT in residential neighborhoods, where would they be? This of course would be an attempt to eliminate the short term rental business in Sioux Falls to delight of the hotel industry.

Short term rentals already have to follow the same ordinances as a homeowner or a long term rental so any other regulations would be above and beyond. But since this is a hospitality industry operating in Sioux Falls there should be a BID tax applied. All the other regulations are simply mushy-mash busy work bureaucrats cooked up.

Minnehaha County Commission trying to put the cat back in the bag on Short-Term vacation rentals

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I guess short-term rentals in MC have become the wild west of vacation rentals;

The Minnehaha Planning Commission is looking to propose a clearer definition – and tighter regulations – for Airbnbs and other short-term vacation rentals in the county. Here’s what an early draft would mean for local rentals.

While I support some regulation, and many neighbors do also, I think some of the recommendations are extremely broad, ignorant and unneeded.

It would also create a separate conditional use permit specific to Airbnb-type rentals. That permit would have its own set of requirements.

I agree there needs to be registration, but it should be a simple filing fee of $50 or so, not $500 per year. I also think the city should piggyback on the proposal and impose quarterly health inspections to insure there are no issues with bed bugs, plumbing, HVAC, etc. just like hotel rooms. There should also be a county and city BID tax applied to such entities. But there are some pie in the sky proposals;

  • Vacation rentals can’t have more than two guests per bedroom.

There is absolutely NO way of enforcing this. Is the county and perhaps the city going to show up in the middle of the night to every single rental when they have a resident and make sure this rule is being abided by? Hell No! Making rules you won’t or can’t enforce reminds me of the tobacco ban in city parks or texting and driving. When you make a law, and ordinance or rule, you must also have a plan for enforcement, what is that plan?

  • Minimum parking requirements are one space per guest. (So, if you’ve got an Airbnb that sleeps 12, you need 12 parking spots minimum.)

This one made me bust up laughing. So if a family of 6 rents a place, they have to have 6 parking spots for the two adult parents and 4 children? Or the individual business traveler who takes and UBER to their destination? While I do support some kind of parking requirement, it should only be a minimum two spots per unit. I have used VRBO in the past, and their has only been ONE parking spot provided (that I didn’t use).

There is also NO reason to regulate this private property industry past health inspections and registration since the industry does a pretty good job of regulating BAD clients. You can’t just show up an hour before booking and move in, you have to be vetted by the the service providers and can be denied for any reason.

I have to say the reason I think short-term vacation rentals are so popular is because they are more affordable then hotel stays and my experience has been stellar. It’s like having your own condo on vacation without room service but the comforts of home. Here is a picture of my building patio view at my last VRBO which cost about 75% less then a hotel room miles from the beach.

I wonder if the MCC even did a nationwide study of what other cities and counties do, or if they just listened to some whiny neighbors on Wall Lake?

Short term rentals DO need regulation, but it should be applied in baby steps, and it should have a plan for enforcement.

Voter turnout continues to decline in Minnehaha County

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I first saw this in the past city election and now with the failure of IM 27 that for some reason, Minnehaha County residents, mostly Sioux Falls, are not showing up to vote;

What the data does show, though, is a trend.

  • For whatever reason – likely, a complex variety of factors – the number of ballots cast in local midterm elections is increasing at a much slower rate than both the number of people registered to vote and the number of people coming to Sioux Falls in general.
  • Looking at turnout percentages, it also shows Lincoln County voters turnout at a higher rate than Minnehaha County voters and overall voters statewide.
  • Minnehaha County voters saw the steepest decline in turnout, dropping below the overall statewide turnout in the last decade.

I am not sure why more people are choosing to not vote in Sioux Falls, MC. I think the rhetoric over the past few years about your vote not counting is discouraging voters, we saw this with IM 27. I have no doubt in my mind that if it would have passed, the legislature would have gutted it to nothing, I think voters assumed that.

I have told people that if the county promoted more ways to absentee vote, the numbers would rise.

Minnehaha County proposing NEW $50 Million dollar JDC facility

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A heads up to a journalist who called me yesterday asking if I knew about THIS & THIS (he also wanted to know if I was at the meeting yelling in the background 🙂 I was not, only LOSERS do that).

I did know that there has been planning for it over the past 3 years but it was kind of a sticker shock considering they will have to bond for it (higher property taxes). While the City of Sioux Falls is throwing $10 million at a college for ‘landscaping and other stuff’ the county is borrowing money for kid jails. Maybe we could spend $60 million on an advanced tech mentorship program from DSU to public school students in Sioux Falls. Now that’s crime prevention. I’m sure Matt Paulson is all over it!

Minnehaha County Commission votes 4-1 to move Public Input to the end of the meetings

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During regular public input at the beginning of the meeting several citizens spoke out about moving public input, including myself.

It was the last agenda item on the meeting and during that discussion they voted to move it to the end but did take Barth’s amendment to leave it at 5 minutes instead of 3. He was the dissenting vote.

I reminded the MCC that this was the public’s time and the word DISSENT is in the 1st Amendment.