Jefferson City resident Lois Hogan started renting her downtown two-story home earlier this year to state legislators to recoup some of the expenses she put into her East High Street property. Around the solar eclipse weekend last month, she took to the popular lodging website Airbnb to advertise her property to short-term guests.
Hogan first rented her home from January to May during legislative sessions. She decided to use Airbnb and open the home to short-term renters in August because of the city's prime location for the total solar eclipse.
State legislators in town for veto session Wednesday were renting her rooms, and she said someone from Germany rented a room over the weekend, too. She has rented the house to almost 10 people over the last month.
"I'm coming at this from a homeowner perspective of as the rights of a homeowner: I should be able to make some decisions of how my property is used," Hogan said. "I don't feel like it adversely affects the city or my neighbors. It means I can still own this property and still continue to improve it, which continues to improve the neighborhood.
"The people who come to my property are spending money in Jefferson City and are going to go out to eat and partake in the community while they're here."
Jefferson City's zoning code currently prohibits residential property owners from renting out rooms in the city - something Hogan said she didn't understand when she opened her home for room rentals.
But as residents continue to advertise short-term rentals, cities like Jefferson City and Columbia are trying to address the growing trend.
Jefferson City staff is working on an ordinance to make short-term rentals legal in the city, while Columbia is proposing changing its definition of a hotel so residential owners operating short-term rentals would have to pay lodging tax.
The Jefferson City Planning and Zoning Commission discussed a draft ordinance Thursday that would define short-term rental properties and what would be required to operate them.
City Senior Planner Eric Barron said a public hearing regarding the area is expected at the Oct. 12 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
The draft ordinance was originally introduced to the Jefferson City Council Committee on Administration at the beginning of August and was approved by the committee.
Hogan said her house used to be a rental property when its district was zoned as commercial; when the area was rezoned to a mixed-used district, she thought the property could still operate as a rental property. She said she does not think the city has communicated effectively to residential owners that short-term rentals are currently prohibited in all zones.
"You have short-term rentals all over town and for years," Hogan said. "This is not something new that people decided all of a sudden they were going to do. It's new because you have Airbnb and you have a platform nationwide that people are doing that."
About 35 Jefferson City properties were listed on Airbnb as of Sept. 14.
Jefferson City's draft ordinance defines a short-term rental as a residential owner renting out his or her house. The ordinance defines short-term rental of a lodging room as renting out a single room or basement in a residence. A short-term lodging room rental may not contain multiple rentals in the same residence.
The current draft ordinance states the maximum length a guest can stay at a short-term rental residence or lodging room is seven consecutive nights. Commission members said they were worried seven nights is too restrictive and leaves a time gap - because typically a long-term resident is defined as someone staying at a residence for a month or more.
According to the draft ordinance, a maximum of five unrelated people or an unlimited number of related individuals would be allowed to stay in a short-term rental at a time.
Jefferson City's zoning code allows bed-and-breakfast homes in the city, but they can't provide more than two guest rooms. However, a bed-and-breakfast inn can have more than two guest rooms.
Hogan said she does not consider her home a bed and breakfast because she doesn't serve or prepare food.
Hogan said she did not check the city code to see if short-term rentals were allowed in Jefferson City, but instead researched state statutes for hotels and motels.
Chapter 315 of the Missouri Revised Statutes defines a lodging establishment as a hotel if the facility has five or more guest rooms that are regularly used by the public. The law states this definition "shall not relieve any lodging establishment from compliance with local ordinances, regulations or codes having requirements not contained or greater than" the lodging establishment definition.
A property owner in Jefferson City has to offer three rental rooms for the property to be considered a hotel, said Diane Gillespie, Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director.
"I probably should have checked with the city, but it didn't even cross my mind because I knew other people who were doing it around the city," Hogan said. "I was just trying to figure out a way to hang onto my property since I couldn't sell it."
She bought her home five years ago and lived in the upstairs area while hosting meetings on the first floor. After a few years that became cost-prohibitive because of maintenance on the property, Hogan said, so she attempted to sell the home. After a year with no success selling the house, she decided to keep the property and rent rooms to guests.
Hogan said she has spent several thousands of dollars to maintain and renovate her home, and she needed the money from renting out her home to maintain and occupy the house.
Hogan's 3,300-square-foot white building, built in 1860, contains 15 rooms and used to be a clinic owned by former Jefferson City doctor Everett Sugarbaker. Hogan has transformed the building into a residential house, tearing down some walls to allow space for a dining room, living room, bathrooms and bedrooms.
Hogan said people are interested in staying in historic buildings because it gives them an experience that differs from hotels.
"There's a lot of interest in people lodging in in older properties - they enjoy that," she said. "And it ties in with as we try to market Jefferson City as a historic destination, it's going to be really important to have that piece in place. They don't want to come here and then stay in a modern hotel."
She kept some of the home's clinic characteristics to attract guests and preserve history; the old radiation room now has a bed in the middle of it, while the upstairs surgical room was transformed into a bathroom. Signs describing the rooms are posted around the house for guests.
The city's draft ordinance would require a residential owner to apply for a special exception use permit to operate a short-term rental. The Planning and Zoning Commission would have a public hearing regarding the permit; and, if approved, it would go to the Jefferson City Council for final approval.
The permit would be nontransferable, as it would be issued in the property owner's name.
The special exception use permit application would cost $210.
Hogan said she was worried city officials would be biased when giving out special exception use permits, at least in the downtown area.
"When they say they're going to do this on a case-by-case basis, that doesn't mean there's going to be any justice in the way that they do that," she said. "It's going to be very political, so that's a bad set-up."
The draft ordinance currently states short-term rentals would be allowed in all but industrial districts. Barron said he might change this so short-term rentals would be permitted in mixed-use and commercial districts without a special exception permit.
The draft ordinance also requires that short-term rentals have to follow fire code and building code inspection requirements.
Hogan said while she understands there should be some regulations on short-term rentals for health and safety reasons, she was worried the city would place too many restrictions on properties, to the point where property owners will be deterred from fixing up old properties and renting them out.
"My hope is the city will be as flexible as possible without setting up too many restrictions," Hogan said. "When people are going to invest all that money into (historic) properties, there has to be some kind of feasible return on investment and some of the restrictions won't be feasible, I think. If we're going to market this city as a historic destination where you can see the prison and see the Capitol and things like that, then they need to set it so that these historic homes can be used for a number of different functions."
She suggests the city consider a property's square footage when setting restrictions. Right now, she is renting four units in her home and is worried the ordinance will force her to rent fewer bedrooms, even though she has a large building.
She also suggested city staff consider downtown properties separately from other residential neighborhoods, as the downtown area is a "different animal."
Property owners violating the zoning code could be fined up to $1,000, be imprisoned up to three months or both, according to city code.
The draft ordinance states if a property owner advertises or offers for rent a short-term rental in conflict with the ordinance's guidelines, then it would be a violation.
About 30 miles away, the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau wants to change the definition of a hotel to encompass short-term rental properties. According to Columbia's city code, someone has to rent out a minimum of 12 rooms to be considered a hotel, motel or tourist court.
Amy Schneider, director of Columbia's CVB, said over 450 Columbia properties were rented during the Aug. 21 solar eclipse weekend.
Schneider said the CVB is taking "baby steps" to address short-term rentals, and the definition change is the first step. If the Columbia City Council approves the definition change, she said, the CVB will decide the next steps, which could include creating contracts with Airbnb and other online rental companies.
The CVB will ask the Columbia City Council in October to change the definition, she said.
While the definition change would not impact current hotels, motels and tourist courts, it would impact bed and breakfasts and short-term rentals because of the city's 5 percent lodging tax on hotels, motels and tourist courts, Schneider said.
The Jefferson City draft ordinance states short-term rental property owners would be subject to applicable taxes like lodging and sales taxes, as well as business licensing regulations.
Gillespie said she would ask Jefferson City Counselor Ryan Moehlman if the CVB needs to address applying the lodging tax to short-term rental owners here.
Schneider said she was not sure how much the definition change would impact short-term rentals, but that it would begin conversations.
"I know we do need to at least start the conversation and change the definition because online rentals certainly aren't going away, and they seem to be a trend that's going to last."