City, County & Local Affairs Committee- House

In public debate this not debatable all in favor say aye. Those opposed say no. Of call the roll. Thanks two thirds vote of a quorum here so. Representative Holcomb. Representative Holcomb votes no. Representative Whitaker. Representative Whitaker votes no. Representative Cavenaugh. The representative have. The representative have votes yes representative Dalby. Thank you. Representative very. Representative very votes no. Representative Collins. Representative Collins votes no. Representative McCollum. Representative McCollum votes no. Representative McGrew. Representative McGrew votes yes representative ray. Representative ray votes now representative Hudson. Representative Hudson votes No representative long. Representative long votes yes. Representative Schultz. Representative Schultz votes no. Representative Berks. Representative Burke's votes no representative McClendon. Representative McClendon votes No representative Richardson. No. Resented Richardson votes No representative Hodges No representative Hodges votes no. Representive Andrews yes representative Andrews votes yes. Okay the motion fails Mr yes. Mister chair does the previous motion we adopted regarding limiting to three minutes per per person still apply in this follow on meeting. The three minutes per person that we we passes that still intact okay thanks. Mr yes. I make a motion for immediate consideration. Okay I. Voted them in I think proper motion. Hey the Clerk by the kid he. So ending the. In the base. To mention from this. I'm sorry. We have got to in the. So we can make a motion to sponsors some vote so we can make a motion to put this in. I know so. Thank you make. Hi committee it preshow child bearing with us here what we get clarification of I will not accept that motion immediate consideration we will continue to buy today since are so many people here who's come to speak the sponsor is going to pull the bill down and have it amended in member's own so we will see it here after spring break so at this time. Speaking. Speaking for the bill will be Robert berry should be against the bill Robert berry. Please come the end of the table and identify yourself for the record and who you represent. You may proceed make sure your microphones on if you would. That on. I can hear you all right my name's Robert Butch berry I'm mayor of Eureka Springs. I'm also fourth generation of Eureka Springs also I wear a lot of different had some been an architect for the last. For many many years and been on the Planning Commission for about eighteen and Mary for the last eight of Eureka Springs as many you know it's a unique and special place where town of over two thousand a little over two thousand residents however we have over a million visitors a year. Tourism is not only our major industry it's our only industry we've been attracting visitors to our town for over a hundred and fifty years so we understand tourism and the value of overnight lodging and how that has to be integrated into a residential community. In September two thousand twenty one are planning officer gave a presentation to the city council regarding the number of short term rentals. listed on booking sites those listings reflected over two hundred ninety nine unique properties two hundred forty eight of which were one single family residential properties. Which became short term lodging or overnight lodging and have your mind so. That fact resulted in the city council putting a stop to any additional non owner manager occupied short term rates resident arrangements repeat non resident or non owner manager occupied. So we still allow an owner manager to live on the properties and still have the bed and breakfast lodging and residential zones with A. C. U. P. or conditional use permits Eureka Springs has an abundance of short term overnight lodging and residential neighborhoods in the citizens felt that we do not need anymore. They felt that these were nothing more than many hotels posing as residential units activities at these rental properties can become a nuisance which we all know and I'm just not skip over some of that but what happens with the short term residents residence is that the conflicts that we have with parking trash and other things we do not have anybody who can come and bring resolution to that if they don't live in the city which is what a lot of the short term rentals happens. The changes the nature of the neighborhood completely. If you vested Eureka Springs and you also know that our streets are very narrow and we have limited on street parking in residential areas and in the historic district some places have no on street parking which creates additional burden on the local homeowners when we have an out of town visitors staying in one of the billion bays or existing short term rentals. Creating HOAs are PO ways is not a solution in a historic district Eureka Springs due to our limited housing stock such as low such as this B. one ninety seven courage's landlord to take a long term rental housing off the market and change it to short term rental we already have a problem with finding Reynolds. Affordable rental housing for employees Robert your your three minutes up go ahead and wind up what's all right what I'd like to say is these belong the control need to belong to the cities what's good for Eureka Springs may not work in other places but Eureka Springs should be able to dictate how they control and what happens to the local community thank you very much for your time. I appreciate your testimony up speak up next speaking for the bill in his memory of pope. It was a. Earlier. Placed it leave the what you want but please please said at the end of the day pulling. Speaking the microdistillery of pope was here earlier and signed up to speak she is unable to stave due to other commitments at home so she left her speech here may I read for yes you by thank you please state your name for the record I means David lamb okay you may proceed all right so hello my name is Rita pope I am a mother for a teacher and a volunteer track coach we moved Arkansas seventeen years ago for what I was promised to be no more than two years but we fell in love with the state and its beauty. Have no intention of ever leaving its home I need you to know I'm not a political person I do not vote the party line I'm also not one to speak out but I don't feel like my voice is being heard so I'm here in front of you today. Our country was founded on the principle of democracy. A system that ensures powers which is distributed amongst different branches of the government to rent any single person or group from using their authority. This principle protects the rights of all citizens immigrants charity however this system does not exist at the local level. An unchecked local government can create laws that are harmful to certain citizens or individuals in Saudi leading to discrimination and oppression. Operating without accountability or checks and balances it is very possible for local government overstepped their authority and create laws that are unconstitutional. Sadly this is the exact situation of those Kurds all over the state of Arkansas. Despite the Arkansas Supreme Court ruling in February two thousand eighteen local governments continue just come to discriminate against short term rental owners and pass legislation that highly restrict the use of personal property but only in the case of the short term rentals. They do so under the guise of health and safety. They were generally concerned about the welfare of this constituents when they look for look out for everyone including all homeowners long term mental home owners as well. These areas also have turned over. This is where Senate bill one ninety seven comes in. This bill is not meant to take away a local municipalities ability to govern but rather services for the checks and balances it protects Essie our owners many of whom are unable to vote in local elections from being discriminated against in the towns they love and are so invested in. It requires cities to govern within the conduct confines of the law as set forth by the Arkansas constitution and Supreme Court. As lawmakers it is your responsibility to ensure that bad governments operate within the frame. Local governments so that type that there. Local governments operate within the framework of the law you must be the voice of the Arkansas constitution and Supreme Court and Mr that local governments do not overstep their authority or discriminate against any group please vote yes to Senate bill one ninety seven and protect the rights of all citizens thank you. Preciado testimony. Upperdeck speaking against the bill is Brian all right. Please identify yourself for the record and who you represent you may proceed. Mister chairman I'm Brian Albright the city attorney for the city of hot springs thank you for the opportunity to be here I know that it's late in the day this is the third year that we've grappled with this topic so I can appreciate of the work that you all are putting into this listening to everyone it's hard to get it all in and in such a short amount of time I would like to ask you to suggest to you that you allow this to remain a local issue. when we look at what the home rule ironically called the home rule we're talking about homes the home rule statute states that municipal misspelled is authorized to perform any function and exercise full legislative power in any and all matters of whatsoever nature pertaining to its municipal municipal affairs when you look at the definition of municipal affairs it basically says everything except there's a list that list of exceptions does not include land use it is not include zoning so that is authority that is given exclusively to the municipalities it is a local issue there are no state laws owning districts there are no land use laws across the state of Arkansas not every community is the same within each community not every neighborhood is can is the same in the city of hot springs we have three distinct areas where we have STR's we have a lake areas we have the area around the casino and we have the north woods each one of those areas are distinct and unique and needs special attention that only you can do at a local level how do you deal with local level levels you have input city hot springs and not set up to I'm not here to tell you we did have their bills that wrong okay that's the that's not my intention my intention is to talk about local involvement. we have public hearings on March the second March the thirtieth April thirteenth April twentieth April twenty seventh may eleventh may eighteen October fifth December seventh of two thousand one but a public form in the in the a convention center if you can believe that we have that many people show up at the convention center it was auto live streamed or whatever the youngsters call it these days we had four more public hearings and in in twenty two so we have had to tweak our legislation to our community to meet its unique needs. Everybody wants to point to the levy case that came out of out of Garland County with respect to what is a residence and is a short stay at a resident still a residential use yes but keep in mind what that case was dealing with that case was dealing with a bill of assurance a private contract among landowners. That had a definition no commercial use. Okay we can split hairs about whether or not can residential use for pay is commercial or not but it certainly is a business. Mistral Roger three minutes like you can go ahead and finish your thoughts so thank you I appreciate that if if it weren't a business the state of Arkansas would not be collecting gross receipts tax that sales tax if it weren't a business you wouldn't your your homeowner's policy would work for your STR it doesn't if it works when a business you would be able to take your capital gains exclusion when you sell your house as a what were your marital home you can't because it's a business You already have laws on the books by the way that deal with home businesses and I'll just cite it as the reading it to you but fourteen one fourteen dash one dash one oh six. We still deal with home businesses I just want to want you to go home and talk to the people that you represent in those communities that you're representing today. Think of yourself representing your communities not some statewide size forty blue suit but. Thank. Thank you appreciate your testimony UP next is Stacy Lael. Speaking for the. Bill. Please identify yourself for the record and who you represent and you may proceed hi I am Stacy Lambe I'm a property owner in Arkansas I own property in a couple of counties across the state and I'm also in as your consultant for people looking to have a really good. Home experience for people visiting their the area I represent over one thousand S. C. R.. Property owners that I have connected with over the last eight months across the state of Arkansas we ask you to please pass this bill I've spent hundreds of hours researching S. C. R. issues during this time in response restrictive ordinances and outright bans across the state and what I find is that is that disturbing what I find today from testimony from city officials is disturbing because we're giving you data and facts that just aren't true I don't believe that they do this on purpose but what I do believe is that they do they don't understand what they're looking at they don't understand how to find this data they you know there was testimony earlier today that there were a couple thousand your Rica error being bees and that's just not true the current number is about a hundred less than one percent of homes in the entire state or short term rentals the the occupancy of that is something like thirty percent across the year and I just want you guys to understand that there's there's so many things being thrown around today that people just don't understand it's not you know this is what it really boils boils down to though is that. there is only a very slight difference one day at a short term rental is thirty day rental and a long term rental is thirty one days or longer and that does not that duration factor does not erase property rights and it doesn't exchanging money for either of those situations doesn't change that fact as well a fifth of all short term rental stays in Arkansas or actually thirty one days and longer in up to five months long these people are traveling and medical professionals families that are in town for medical treatments and many other important things like handling aging parents the states in medical care family reunions and things of that nature these housing needs are not covered by the hotel industry but they are covered by us that are that open our own vacation homes other families needing a larger space space to to share a meal and a space to experience our towns like a local another thing that I think is it what I know it's a myth if you actually do the research on this the majority of us yards or owned and managed by women and minorities and not big corporations this is just an absolute meant that these big companies and corporations are coming into our towns in taking our homes it's just not true at this bill is not taking away control from cities it's giving them parameters and guard rails please please vote yes thank you thank you Mr lamb. UP next speaking against the bill is Melissa occurring. Please identify yourself the record who represent you may proceed. My name is Melissa green I am a city council member and resident of Eureka Springs Arkansas I'm also a twenty year business owner of tourist lodging my properties are historic cottages in commercially zoned and they are commercially zoned themselves I strongly support and embrace and enjoy the tourism of Arkansas and the tourism of Eureka Springs I also strongly support and embrace the residential residents of Arkansas and Eureka Springs. Because tourism is our only industry in Eureka Springs approximately twenty eight percent of our city has been zoned commercial since the advent of Airbnb there's been a huge gold rush in Eureka springs for property as short term rentals. Most of our long term rentals located above stores and buildings downtown as well as our buildings and homes in our commercial zones have turned to short term room rentals eliminating our long term housing. hence this is created a disturbing lack of rental units for citizens and service workers medical police firemen teacher service workers are living up to forty miles away also it has caused a huge shortage in employees many of our businesses are suffering from the lack of employees that hasn't resulted in business shortening hours services and in many cases closing their doors it is deluded our our already existing. Businesses as well as we are saturated with lodging this will and continue to have an adverse effect on our tourists tourism and neighborhoods your Rica Springs as with several other Arkansas cities at the request an outrage of its citizens have been lacked enacted laws to govern short term rentals in our neighborhoods have any of you research the problems in many cities across America have occurred with the advent of short term rentals the majority of our short term rentals are investment properties that owners do not reside or even live in our city or state. These owners don't contribute to our everyday economy they don't vote or participate in our government they don't become our neighbors housing an employee shortages are only as smart small part of the damages caused to city's neighborhood and existing businesses and fortunately many cities could not stop the damage before strong zoning laws are enacted let each city decide their needs and zoning with their own lives neighborhoods are what makes strong cities the citizens of Arkansas are the heart and soul of our state why would you pass a law. That has the potential to destroy our neighborhoods and established businesses this bill is being powered by out of state big businesses and out in state investors screen your thirty minutes up you can go ahead and wind up your thoughts I will when do the needs of our out of state big business and out of state investors take precedence over citizens who live work and raise their families in the state as an elected official our main task is the health safety and welfare of our citizens not to cater to the greed and profiteering to those who only only only only one only one eight piece of us many of you that I meant dressing to date are opposed to big government yet bill one ninety seven is exactly that big government letterman to Mississippi house he's to cite their own needs thank you. We right next up to speak for the bill is rob deal. Please identify yourself and who you represent rob deal I'm a property owner have to short term rentals in Northwest Arkansas. I don't talk about I don't admitted horse about all the other things we discussed that briefly the numbers with Eureka Springs as been talked a couple times about them being saturated you can look at your phone type in Eureka Springs if you want to rent a house I picked to sever six through eight one guest. When using the city sixteen homes pop up it's a small number you can zoom out to about nine or ten miles out and you'll get three hundred forty eight homes in Berryville is thirteen miles away so you're getting a lot of Babel homes when you first type in Eureka Springs you'll get over a thousand homes but you're getting all the way to Rogers the lake is getting a whole bunch of homes you can see for yourself later how few you're talking about really and I think that is being exaggerated. That's all I have said I want to get into the other. Okay I appreciate your testimony thank you mmhm. UP next speaking against it is a bill barring. Skip. Please identify yourself for the record who represent you may proceed. Thank you chair I'm bill Burroughs city manager for the city of hot springs that's a pleasure to be here today I know this is a tough issue that we're all trying to grapple with the city of hot springs we've been doing that for over two years others has to be a balance of owner occupied long term rentals in short term rentals to keep the community sustainable as more shirt short term rentals mean less affordable housing options for workers and puts owning a home almost out of reach for most R. Kansans. In a recent publication using data from Zillow dot com and air DNA the city of hot springs data shows seventy nine percent of our error being bees are commercially operated operated this is up seventy two percent since twenty twenty alone. The growing trend of commercial investors buying up residential homes to convert properties in the short term rentals is harming communities as neighbors are replaced with the revolving door strangers. So the proliferation of short term rentals in communities and popular vacation destinations across Arkansas commercial operators are increasing the cost to rent or buy a home but taking large swaths of potential housing off the market. We're seeing this happen in our home town of hot springs. Beyond the deterioration of neighborhoods or feeling of no longer having a true sense of neighbors there is an uptrend not tick to this trend upside to it. But again the balances what is important. We have seen an older part of our city be revitalized through remodeling of homes that were soon to be beyond repair. This was primarily due to the development of the north woods that we had that our city attorney mentioned earlier. We have seen immense growth of short term rentals in three primary areas the north woods around Oaklawn in the lakes. Where short term rentals and made improvements in one area they have an adverse effect in another area. Is each city is different has unique needs as our city attorney mentioned as well so does our community and we identify that we see that. We currently have seven hundred thirty four license short term rentals within the city limits. With four hundred forty seven of those being in residential zones. Our current cap on residential zones is four hundred this was lowered from five hundred at the beginning of the year. R. STR ordinance has been a living document. As we have made changes based on public input and feedback it will continue to evolve as we continue to involve as a community. On another note safety is a huge concern for these commercial businesses. For example in an owner occupied or long term rental environment you get to know the property I know my house I know which windows state I know which windows are hard to open I know what the fire escape route is. When you have someone coming in and they're going to spend the weekend in one of these homes they don't know those things. We have done some inspections as we've gone through this process And primarily that's what we find there's not that second means of egress should something happen there are smoke detectors are smoke detectors that can talk to each other to be able to go off at the same time. These are all things that in an unregulated short term rental could be. Life and death. Your term is up with wind up your thoughts are thank you yes Sir. We don't have time just to discuss all the issues related they should someone die in an unregulated short term rental with this legislation this legislation will have part of that cross to bear. The government closest to the people should make the decisions that impact them we're there we are hearing from them short term rental regulations is tantamount to zoning which is obviously a local issue thank you. Thank you for your testimony UP next speaking for the bill Amy. Thank you Amy please identify yourself when you get to the end of the day. Under your represent you may proceed Hey. Hi I'm Amy Miller Kopp it's and your dreaded out of state owner I live in Springfield Missouri and my realtor up there in bought my bell Bellavista short term rental for my family I'm not a big investor this is a big investment for us we bought a house that is in need of drastic repair remodeled it we spent four months of our life driving down and doing all of the remodel work ourselves every weekend. In the monks are busy work schedules as well when we're not using home obviously personally the way we can afford to keep it is we rented out short term rental through both Airbnb and VR BO. And so our home really serves as a place for multi generational families that's what we intend to use it for it's a five bedroom home so grandparents their kids and grandkids that's the majority of my gas that use it we've got a dock on the lake and they love playing outside it's just it's a place to retreat to and it's not something that a hotel can necessarily serve when you're talking about family time with your kids and your grandkids as a do you think there's a definite need for this in Bellavista representative long made a good point about changing the rules in the middle of the game so before I made this costly investment I called the city I called the county I called at the state level a call the peel away I did my research and there are no regulations in place and what everybody told me at the time was Hey Bellavista is founded as a vacation rental community that's what we started out as it's probably one of our least likely places to have some heavy handed regulations come into effect so after invested time money energy and now I don't have the ability to buy some like discuss your streets are doubled so I couldn't sell this and buy elsewhere now there's some heavy handed regulations that are being handed down through the city that would drastically affect my ability to be able to rented out and cover make payments things like occupancy cap I run a safe place I am doing all of the racing safety wise I have no problem with a safety inspection but some of the occupancy things that they're doing are very heavy handed and will affect our ability to be able to rent I mean you can't have a big family was only six gas being allowed which is what their new ordinance is telling me I can only put in my five bedroom house so I'm really begging the state to protect owners from what's amounting to a seizure from us some of the cities are very heavy handed and it's coming with an extreme cost to us at our personal investment even though we did our research and tried to do that. Right thing from the beginning. for instance Bellavista pass the ordinance in December but they wouldn't release the list of safety inspections to us until February and we had guests coming in March so they literally give us like three weeks you know I'm booked out from March all the way through the end of summer now. Three weeks maybe to get my stuff done and even their safety inspections list was not clear and then the things their listing and inspecting are not what's on the list so this battery minister up you could wonder thoughts up quickly please okay I'm just really begging for the state to oversee the city's and prevent some of this heavy handed legislation that's happening. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony UP next beating against the bill Pat okay. Please identify yourself for the record who you represent you may proceed. Thank you very much and I know the hours late and I try not to repeat everything that others have already said my name is Pat McCabe I'm a mayor of the city of hot springs and we certainly believe that this is a local issue that's best address at the local level you know communities across the the state elected local officials and they live in that community shop in that community have kids at school and converse regularly with their with their neighbors and so these issues are best addressed at the local level in a city I Springs took a very unique approach in that we had several public forms and these were very constructive they were not adversarial of parties came together there's a lot education lot of give and take back a lot understanding on both sides and from that we develop the an ordinance in as Mr Albright indicated Mr burrows well that has had to be massaged over time because issues come up and an unintended consequences and so we work with both of the the neighbors and in the S. T. R. owners and so we have a very very good relationship with both parties and I think we have a very good solution that fits Hot Springs again all the communities are very unique and within hot springs itself they're very unique Mr Albright Mr Breaux mention north woods that's a epic mountain trail system that right at the north end of Central Avenue on Park Avenue that was an area of our community that homes are going into K. and and people bought those in rare and remodeled Bills and no those are homes that people who are in the mountain biking they can rent that home for the weekend and walk out their front door in five minutes be on a world class mountain bike trail that the other to other parts of our community. E. the older section around the lake those roads are very very narrow and you have an abundance of STR's on some of those streets that it makes it impossible for a fire truck to safely you'll move through those streets as well as sample and services so in in even the the the sanitation trucks very very challenging there and so there is some within the community there has to be some ability to massage into work you know within the constraints of that particular neighborhood and so we really encourage the committee to recognize the uniqueness of each community within this state and allow us to regulator to govern the uniqueness within our individual communities because of each neighborhood is very very different you talk about public safety I talked a little bit about firing getting people to to a scene but at the same time you know from a building code standpoint you know we means of egress and ability for firefighters to gain access to a structure you know we have a five foot minimum window mayor with your thirty minutes up wind up your thoughts thank you so so we work with them we gave them extensions of time we approved government said have them have those new windows you know with the supply chain of the impact on consent on on windows and every product that we use every day that that impacted it but we work with them and will allow them an opportunity to have have their business but still move forward with that renovation so thank you very much local issue we have a good handle on it and and we walk hand in hand with both the STR in the neighborhood thank you. Thank you for your testimony before a call up the next witness we will not be voting on this bill today it'll be on the twenty seventh of March will we vote on this bill and it'll it'll be a nine o'clock maybe a ten o'clock meeting on them but watch the calorie was set up but we're not voting on this bill today let's John all right up next is Damon lawless speaking for the bill yes Mr Damon. Yes just very quickly Mr chairman I received a message that one of the audience members skip over Mr Meyer I believe well we're we're jumping back and forth getting for and against yes one of them this was sometime ago and he's wondering what happened okay I will I will find out have a look here yes yes you may proceed Damon thank you does so for the record and who you represent yes they've been Wallace just resident of Arkansas Northwest Arkansas specifically but I've kind of lived all over North Arkansas so few things STR's number one or not rented all the time on average ours is our only occupied ten days in a month on average so when they're talking about parking and stuff of that that was a big issue I noticed with the legislators in that first meeting isn't the thing is that most the cities that are here today I'm sure have parking ordinances so like when they're talking about you can get a fire truck down there an ambulance I used to be a paramedic is to be one here in Little Rock and so yes when you get down you have parking ordinances so that you can allow that I'm sure the city's hot springs in Eureka Springs and Bellavista all have parking ordinances so that you can get fire trucks and and police cars and everything else down there are they not enforcing those. So if they are enforcing them why did they need to do it on less than one or two percent of the population should they do it for all everyone or are the long term rentals and owner occupied or they just not as important. the gentleman who owns the hotel and bar if in Eureka Springs also heard from the city council woman said that their employees are having to drop from forty miles away forty miles away puts on the other side of Harrison from Eureka Springs if we if we know the geography of that you're telling me there's no affordable housing and green force or Alpena or hard Berryville there's no affordable housing if to go all the way to Harrison to do this yeah it's not it's not reasonable So STR's no longer a novelty but a way of life for many people ordinary people who have decided to take a risk and invest tens of thousands of dollars to renovate older homes to produce an income as STR's of gain more popularity will produce an increased sales tax revenue in AMP revenue along the way cities are now trying to hinder them. Over the past year we've tried to work with the city council to reach common ground on the S. T. or ordinance the group best car owners was composed of those on the Democrat side and on the Republican side this is not a partisan issue we work together for the common goal of preserving our property rights this mostly fell on deaf ears one city council moves out rates that we would come to the city council meetings every month there are concerns I'm sure you probably already received some communication from this council member rating this bill. At another council meeting conducted after the STR ordinance had passed he even floated the idea of blocking public comment time from city council meetings he didn't want to hear from the residence how are they supposed to govern and they see it they say they want local governments but then he doesn't want to listen to the local residents when there's a problem. There may be some here that feel that local control is better and I say that that is usually the case but there are times when local control becomes big government a time when local government is not responsive to the people that represents a time when the legislature should act to protect the citizens of our great state we're asking for your help to limit the oppression that is occurring at the local level in this matter S. B. one ninety seven is a good bill it passed the Senate overwhelmingly with bipartisan support and I ask you to let it be voted on in the house thank you. Thank you for your testimony UP next speaking. Against the bill is Harold Meyers. Please identify yourself for the record and who you represent you may proceed S. course my name's Gerald Meyer I'm a member of the Eureka springs city council I'm also the president of course of Eureka Springs it seems that all for testimony about Eureka Springs is being. Cast aside by others who think that we don't know what we're talking about. We got a little town at twenty two hundred people. Not every single one of these. Short term rentals that goes in takes one of our voting citizens. And goes to another city they have to go rent somewhere else and there is no housing in Green Forest or Berryville because they've got the big Tyson plants and they're building and adding on to those Tyson plants in their building housing and they can't keep up with it so there you go. Our little town most of it is is historic district. In the zone commercial areas. It is allowed to have short term rentals there's no ban on there's no restriction in commercial areas. The up in residential areas the get continue our conditional use permits we have some there more than sixteen. And okay we just put a moratorium on more which makes sense with a little bitty town. We have to maintain our population we have four for workers for voters you know the government turnback funds are based on the number of people you have so you know. I'm sure there sounds like a bill of this the problem to me it really does it does not fit Eureka Springs we've been more than fair and if you would listen to our city council meetings you know that people comment that whatever they want when they want to so. We we we are quite fair and open with this and the idea that this is all about property rights. Well does that mean I can have hogs in my yard. Iman is my property I can do whatever I want it's absurd that's a red herring. Thank you. Okay create your testimony UP next is Clayton Pilar of speaking for the bill. It is quite. Okay. Did is Clayton in the room. Okay next meeting for the bill is. Paul Calver. VOL is not in the room. Please state your name for the record in who you represent you may proceed Paul minus Paul Calvert I appreciate your your patience today so I want to start off kind of the basics here the reason why we have government at all in the first place is to uphold the rights of individuals not the rights of governments not the rights of even associations at the rights of individuals unfortunately I think that we have. Come to the point where city governments are often. Going beyond the role of holding rights they're deciding they want to manage they want to control people they want local control but they mean to control their wanting to tell people to do things and and control them in ways that are beyond the purpose of protecting their rights. They're wanting to tell people how to use their property not solely for the purpose of protecting people's rights and safety they're wanting to control. How they do it based upon aesthetics what things what things look like they want to enforce their preferences. And they've got a long history of doing this you know the state of Arkansas is changing the state of Arkansas the political Situation if you will has changed a lot in the last twelve fifteen for twenty years and I I want to see some some serious changes I think we should make some serious changes the cities have been running roughshod over people's rights for quite some time and this needs to stop we need to we need to pull back some of this power that cities have been exercising they have been acting as if they are the landowners in that property owners are actually the state the the tenants of the cities they act like Like Similar to what appeal weight would acts appeal a is a private contract between property owners they can impose all kinds of rules a lot of people don't like the way that PO is work they don't like the fact that appeal way might tell them that you can't have political signs in your yard or you have to take your Christmas lights down on January first or whatever it might be sometimes they have done rules that you agree to it it's a private contractor you don't like it don't agree to it don't move to those neighborhoods by out in the county or by somewhere where there's no PO eight then you can have your Christmas lights up all year long if you want to an your neighbors might laugh at you but that's all they can do is laugh they can't call the local government and have you find because you have a Christmas lights up. And so that that's what I want I want I want cities to be more respectful of people's rights. I think this bill helps to do that doesn't go all the way but it helps. And I I I really want sees be respectful and there are some issues there are issues will come up parking is an issue I was speaking with a couple ways here we had a good conversation and it was kind of fun I think they but they thought I was crazy and I thought they were a little crazy but that's okay. The call you thirty minutes or up wind up your call okay I'll wind up and and so. And so street parking is is a real issue there there's some solutions that I so I suggest you know if it's a real problem want to sign street parking to the to the owners of property in front of it and if the if people violate that told the cars I believe that that but I appreciate your time. Create your testimony UP next this is Doug Haller. Please identify yourself for the record and who you represent you may proceed. Yes Sir good afternoon late afternoon Doug Haller gost Arkansas two term city council member and mayor pro tem for the third consecutive year thank you for your time at S. B. one nine seven as a heavy weight could very well be setting Arkansas communities up to no longer be communities they could have a lasting impact that cannot be undone doesn't take much searching across the country on this topic to know that some of you may know that the Bellavista city council passed a short term rental ordinance in December of twenty twenty two it was enacted on February the twentieth of twenty twenty three the steps leading us to the to craft this soreness did not originate with our city planning department or Peter Christie are former mayor former mayor or me it began with the people that placed us in our lectern seeks to hear them and act on their behalf they were demanding that something be done currently there are four hundred and ninety five short term rentals advertising in Bellavista the initial cap was set at six hundred and R. recently passed ordinance the point to that is there was no intent to shut this business down also so you are aware the bill this is city council during our February session passed a resolution opposing SB one ninety seven if anything the Arkansas state legislatures to be working with local governments to protect the integrity of our most protected zoning district R. one single family residence residential designation this is an area not appropriate to let the free market rain as I read one of our Arkansas state senator's comments are planning department our mayor and I received calls from residents too numerous to detail one aspect the most calls concerned normal regular residential properties being advertised for occupancies at ten twelve fourteen sixteen eighteen people I got asked does that make sense to anybody who would be surprised at nuisance complaints would follow then there's the issue of the pressure puts on sept. Techsystems and Bella Vista not designed to handle this capacity that's a whole nother conversation like an education on today but it's it's issue in Bellavista seventy seven percent of our homes are on septic. During meetings with our plane Department Peter Christie we agreed that it was necessary to move for with crafting an ordinance also to note the plane department had concerns in addition to the nuisance complaints again that was subjects and then safety. Although I'd like to I cannot possibly take you through all the deliberations from initial meetings that took place with our planning department on April eleventh of two thousand twenty one and ending with the final passage in December of twenty twenty two however I want you to I want to assure you that all of the input was heard the orders that was pastor Bellavista during the December twenty twenty two regular city council meeting was crafted specifically for the concerns identified for our community is brief is to the point the original propose ordinance that was introduced in our gym during our June city council meetings went through five iterations were filed before final passage I will email it to each of you so you can read it at your discretion I will be surprised if you find our ordinance your regulatory issues be you your time is up please blinded up if you I just wanna say there are five basic tennis star Bella Vista ordinance short term rental owners should be responsible for the behavior that takes place at their property number two we need to know who the owners and managers are and how to contact them number three ensure the safety of visitors booking Esty ours and our community for protect our properties from failing septic systems for from over occupancy and improper use and number five in that penalties for violation of the S. T. R. ordinance I just would like for you know that people in Bellavista are paying attention to this bill there eagerly waiting to see where you place their standing and difference to special interest groups is in batting small hotels and hostels into their streets and neighborhoods respectfully stated and I appreciate your time okay thank you. Okay I'm not showing anybody else to speak for the bill is there somebody here. this signed up to speak for the bill that I've overlooked. If not speak against the bill. Is. Peggy Lucas. Please identify yourself for the record in who you represent you may proceed yes Sir thank you look at some of the live is a property owner owner been living in Bellavista for fifteen years. my boots on the ground resident I want to tell you what life is like living to an S. T. R. that has bad actors controlling the property so the real realty listing for our neighborhood STR's at three bedroom home the advertised to sleep seventeen guest yesterday our guest repeatedly show blatant disregard for neighbors with excessive noise into the wee hours in the morning profanity drunkenness tell neighbors to go F. themselves when asked to please lower the noise creating parking issues blocking street traffic yes to your property owner lives right next door to this property and is fully aware of the issues and has not responded to requests to address reoccurring issues the resident to the immediate left of the STR had no idea when he bought his home that he was moving next to the S. T. R. party house the excitement he had a return here to select home late front home is gone because of the epic failure of the yes to your property owner to manage the behaviors of their guest. There about nine months a bill of this to city council meeting videos with council's countless residents they have shared their specific issues experiences with us to yours in their neighborhoods their stories are said they're scary intrusive and go against the right set all bill of this is residents have to enjoy their property this finally led to the regulations that Bellavista now has in place we've heard repeatedly but that police power issues of that police power is the answer but police power issues but this only solves the problem for the moment it does not solve the root of the issue which is property owners not managing their property so this does not solve the route so please don't be deceived when people say use police power I'm asking for us to be one ninety seven to be amended to include a three strike financial penalty penalty against STR bad actor property owners and have them alternately removed from being able to operate in S. T. R. in the city if they continue to disregard ordinances beyond the three star cruel so the three stark rule being proposed is not a solution is not a deterrent. So the last issue I want to share with you is a danger we're now facing because of uncontrolled S. T. R. growth a resident that recently moved to Bella Vista from Portland ore again told us in a city council meeting that he moved here to get away from the dangers that unrestricted short term rental growth head on his community he said if we do not act now to restrict your term rental growth or community will disappear our communities will get over run by people who do not live here the guest or not your neighbors you're never gonna know them or get to know them you're never going to build a relationship with them they are transient this is becoming a sobering reality and all of us to the danger of unrestricted short term rental gross is the loss to community three with your thirty minutes of if you would wind up your thoughts please okay the mayor of Miami says it this way we're seeing the commercialization of our residential communities in ways that are damaging to our citizens and our residents and our quality of life so I am asking you to add an amendment that limits short term rental growth to four percent of the residential homes in our cities we want to put communities first so when it enclosing I'm asking you to help us he or either stopping SP one ninety seven and allow us to use the ordinance we have in place in Bellavista or amend the bill to address the issues that we have identified today that I've identified with you today thank you for your testimony. Next up to speak against the bill is Abby foster. Please identify yourself for the record who you represent and you may proceed this is a live and intimidating so my name is Abby foster nonresident Bella Vista at this process has been absolutely fascinating I have really enjoyed it now if you guys do what I'm going to ask you to do I will like it even more so. Please keep that in mind so my husband and I bought our home and unlike Britney in Bellavista in twenty fifteen and our quality of life really took a nose dive in twenty twenty two when a realtor purchase the houses next door to us and turn it into a short term rental my husband and I have in fact per first hand live but the best and the worst we get some really cute families but we get some really bad players states that this invasive phenomenon delivers and I ask you today is very simple either vote no for SB one ninety seven or if you can't do that then please add amendments that at the very least ensure that the owners of these businesses and that's the owner not the renter that's in there for that moment and then gone the next it is the actual owner that we want to be accountable for this for the behavior and harm done by their gas and specifically I'm asking for three strike rule occupancy limits and concentration caps it's put my **** there's three things that I just want you to know about the way we're living today with these STR's this is not hypothetical this is not anecdotal this is our very real reality at today we have Drug kannst strangers spewing profanities and they're doing that within thirty feet of where our children play in their own backyards okay I can't stress that enough as strangers verbally assaulting you and this happened to me personally when they are asked to put out an unattended bonfire fire during a hundred in three degree weather and drought conditions did with Smokey the bear is that gone now does nobody else learning that drunken strangers they're staggering in your backyard they drop their pants and urinating and the last one that I have to say to you I all I it hurts my heart to even say it this did not happen at my house or there would have been some serious action taken but. Drunken strangers dropping the pants of their children exposing their genitals in public and having those children urinate in our backyards there is absolutely no situation in the entire world no place no world we're that's okay okay on any level these are the types of things were having to deal with they would've gotten a call from CPS and I would get that child out of their own arms myself that they had done that plus at my house that's how would be on video message in that for just a minute okay this is not okay that we as citizens instead of enjoying our homes in the joint are properties that we're having to police this we now are having to police the situation's a simply because we're trying to protect ourselves and our children and by golly I'll protect their children to I hear that little dinghy is that mean that. Right at that so. And so I want to let you know too that this is SB one ninety seven it allows these people to operate without regulations he's got to businesses and the owners really focused on Revenue and Hey I get it because every time I leave the at the grocery store they want me to pay for groceries so I get I get making a living all we're trying to do is find a way to balance that so that we can co exist in peace and and I want to ask you what why should we allow SDRs to operate above the law why is that even happening I'm kind of agreeing with the long here do from Eureka Springs he said he thinks about Bella Vista Akana wondered about that because I is the wind it up well as. And by the way is not the first time someone tell me to shut up okay. Please don't elevate these these businesses about the law okay I mean that's all we're asking is that we be able to live in peace with them okay thank you so much and thank you thank you for your testimony. K. A. UP next this hello creek bomb. Why do I have to follow at the. If you would identify yourself record do you represent my name is Ellen creek bomb in my husband and I have been property owners in Bellavista for eleven years I'm here representing it representing an organized group of Bellavista into or strongly opposed to this bill I'm a conservative and it has been suggested that conservatives must support property rights I'm question well I don't agree when you buy into and reside in a city or a community there are rules there are regulations there ordinances and sometimes they change on us because they have to be revised a resident Mr mackenzie. Is defined as a person's home it's the place where we live where we raise children where we retire there about families and neighborhoods these residences rentals have always been about renting as a home. And STR rental is not a home it's a business it's a motel business sold on an E. commerce website a business is defined as the practice of making one's living by engaging in commerce a marketplace is a business or commerce STR's or an entirely new type of business and land use so we need to number one step back regroup and look at this again yes we have the right to read our property but this meant to rent a house as a home not as a motel having SDRs as resident having SDRs in residential areas infringes on my property right to sell. No one wants to buy next door to a short term rental or party house and where families going to live if they don't want to live near an STR I cannot believe that this bill has gotten this far in our legislature and I think our governor recalled as crazy as it certainly isn't normal well I hope not this is an attempt to use property rights to justify business ventures it's all about the money the number two there's nothing in this bill to protect address or support residents we don't want to call the cops. I don't want to do that and a three strikes rule is dangerous in my opinion because somebody's going to figure out who called the cops. This bill sets a dangerous precedent for state legislatures to meddle in city operations and opens the door to other new land uses in section to be it makes it a free for all for us T. R. statewide section to see clarifies SDRs is residential they should be classified as commercial STR or commercial why shouldn't local governments regulate short term rental market place in tutti it's a business in their community and sections C. actually refers to a lodging operator this is powerful and far reaching legislation on the public is not aware what's coming out on. We want you to vote no on SB one ninety seven Arkansas cities can then the to regulate as they see fit every city has a different issue a situation these decisions do not belong at the state level and by the way our city council did a great job Doug Feiler got tired of hearing me thank you for your testimony. As a say everybody speaking from this point forward or speak against the bill UP next is Patrick stare. Please identify yourself for the record and who you represent you may can proceed. Thank you hi my name is Patrick Stiller a live in North Little Rock I am just a citizen. Thank you Mr chair for letting me speak on S. B. one ninety seven I'm here to speak in defense of neighborhoods my wife and I moved into a wonderful neighborhood twenty five years ago during this time I've come to appreciate the benefit to myself and society of having neighbors It by neighbors I am means long term residents folks living there you can get to know who raise their kids their vote walk two dogs. A number of years ago I ended up in the hospital for a couple of weeks during that time my neighbors took our dog to the vet both the lawn in generally helped my wife so she could stay at the hospital with may in turn I've collected the mail and fed the dogs of the members when they're out of town Modou yards and taking them to the pharmacy when they're sick of watching the kids grow up and bought the girl scout cookies and school fundraising popcorn I don't even like popcorn. It isn't all peaches and cream we don't necessarily all get along perfectly but we deal with each other and try to be civil to all because we're neighbors. To be blunt I don't like this bill has to be one ninety seven in its current form I think it is damaging to neighborhoods as I know in defined by allowing neighbors to be replaced with hotel rooms and disallowing the cities to try to maintain one of the basic units of civil society thus in my opinion S. B. one ninety seven weakens society itself and heaven knows these days society needs all the help we can get. But if I had to identify one aspect of this bill that I could change I would ask that cities be allowed to regulate short term rentals units that are not part of an owner occupied property if someone is living in the home once ran out the upstairs floor where the garage apartment I have no problem with that because the owner would be living there and would therefore be a neighbor. So please allow cities to regulate the otherwise empty short term properties and help us keep our neighborhoods full of neighbors thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony UP next is Hilary Adams. If you would please identify yourself for the record who you represent yes Sir my name is Hilary Adams one layer Mountain Home Arkansas and I can tell you this is not going to take a loan Mountain Home is a long way from here and it's almost six o'clock so I appreciate the opportunity and we've heard a lot of stuff diners no need for me to repeat that but I will of the your curveball normal court right down the middle no promises no single one Arkansas at this right now one thing today. We passed an ordinance in October I believe it was of twenty two and Mountain Home and the reason we passed that it was brought to our attention by the a and P. commission the the hotel the the four hotels we have in town collect day and pay tax and that gets remitted to the city. The short term rentals work doing that so we decided a couple things we need to do we would need to get a grip on who was in the short term business what David know where they're at so we set this ordinance up to mainly do three things require registration very nominal fee of fifty dollars if you can afford to fifty you don't need to be in the business or I look at it the cost me that much and paper make fill out a receipt for two safety inspection you know make sure the places got fire extinguishers smoke alarms like Senator very simple bill and three collect day and pay. The people that are in the business doing in our cities have no problem with the ordinance at all we've seen many properties as a result of short term rentals get cleaned up they're not outsource anymore and I've done a great job of enhancing those properties just like the hot springs vote of folks talk about north with our problem and what I'm asking you to do today. Is if you're gonna legislate some legislators people or doing business in the state of Arkansas Airbnb I've got it right here the refusal from them to do the collection through a voluntary agreement for us in Mountain Home all sure that we if you lock. VRB those platforms refuse to collect that for us in Mountain Home and remitted to the city maybe we're too small maybe we got a game too late. But the online sales taxes was passed a couple years ago and I think so we are probably a part of that has been a huge boon to every city in the state of Arkansas and our sales tax revenue increased if you would require. Those businesses that work in the state of Arkansas all these platforms to collect at AMP Tax route minute to Mountain Home or pay get or any other city in between that would be a huge help for us I promise you and with that think I'm fiction probably had Mountain Home here pretty quick step slow way all but up I really would like for you to vote against this bill we've done a great job in our city now part a lot of the people here today talk about what they've done as well and that's just more of an example why the vote Senator on the ground and small zip codes all over the state of Arkansas we need to be making our own rules and you need to take care of the people that are coming to our state regulated all right I appreciate it to as testimony bear all right speak against it is merry hill. If you would identify yourself for the record. And who you're speaking for an you may proceed. Thank you. Good afternoon high merry Julia hill and the President of the Briarwood area neighborhood association I'm here to speak on behalf of neighbors and are not in subdivision two could not be here to speak for themselves. My comments are not based on hypothetical situations or things that have happened in other parts of the country or state they're based simply on the experiences in our large and diverse neighborhood both homeowners and renters have been working tirelessly over the past decade to reduce crime and build a strong sense of community well the dramatic increase of crime in the area is well documented. I'm in publicly available what is less I meant to say decrease of crime sorry publicly available is less externally visible but more important impressive of the gains we have made to come together as a neighborhood and build a strong sense of community our success in forming strong community bonds and looking out for each other can only be seen by either spending time in the area we're seeing the interactions on our social media sites so much so that a number of former renters have chosen to purchase homes in our neighborhood we believe as homeowners are rights have been overlooked in this discussion we do have an STR that contributes to the positive quality of life for the property owner and the nearby neighbors but that location of the property is unique the other as T. R. as we have had have been absolute nightmares STR renters were frequently knocking on doors and waking up neighbors on several streets in the neighborhood in the middle of the night looking for the STR they've parked on the lawn of nearby neighbors breaking sprinkler heads your addition pipes industry landscaping their cars to block the street in prevented solid waste and recycling trucks from accessing neighbors garbage and recycling as there are no sidewalks in most of our association the increased traffic presented hazardous conditions for neighbors out walking their dogs or strolling their babies bill of trash on the street in yards and we're very destructive the worst issue we have had is that homes for sale in the vicinity of the us to our run able to self with the current market value because home buyers did not want to invest in a home your short term rental we recently had a situation where a long time home owner passed away others in Briarwood wanted to purchase the home but were quickly outbid by an out of state company who wants to have another STR yes property owners have the right to sell to whom they choose but current property owners who worked hard to create a stable diverse safe neighborliness hood should have rights to if I live on a dark street want to request a new street light even if my request includes having the utility pole in my own yard all of the neighbors living directly J.. Into the street light must approve if I wanna request speed abatement on my street I must obtain the signatures of every resident on the street and again seventy five percent of them must approve before the request is even considered if I want to request restricted parking on the street right in front of my home I must get the signatures of everyone living on that street it doesn't matter if the street is two blocks or more than ten blocks every resident must sign and seventy five percent of those signatories must approve so tell me if having a choice counts for street lights speed abatement and parking doesn't it seem logical that there should be regulations to prevent residential neighborhoods from being transformed into businesses there your treatments up if you would wind up your thoughts quickly would you I can finish thank you okay thank you. All right next up is he and Snyder. If you would state your name and who you're representing you may proceed. My name is Aaron Snyder I live in Fairfield Bay Arkansas and I serve on the Planning Commission and town the almost everything I've heard today it It we we have experienced yeah and our small town of of Fairfield Bay but let me let me say why we're so unique you Fairfield Bay was established in the nineteen seventies as a vacation rental place we have over three hundred three hundred and fifty a vacation rentals which are now called short term short term rentals in Fairfield Bay yeah that's been in existence for a very long time I know some of those properties were damaged by different groups the developers that he stabbed but got Fairfield Bay going. I realize that there was a need to have a permanent residents a permanent town road in just the the vacation rentals every time though they used the people coming in on short term rentals and they marketed permanent residential areas in hopes that people would buy and build a home and establish a permanent residence. that worked out well. And it in the the those areas were established as far one eight N. R. one B. zoning places and specifically vacation rentals and that's the word that was used at that time they cation rentals were prohibited in those places and people that come. We have places a blanket Gratton dial the Country Club bridge the other communities where people of invested substantial amounts of money we we have several places where there are million dollar homes and permanent resident. The problem. With the short term rental business started a number of years ago maybe a four or five people wanted to have a short term rental in the residential areas. the the real inner started marketing a short term rental in the residential area and then with the with the hope that the people could buy that home. use that is a short term rental they could live somewhere else and then the a real winner would agree to manage the property the got it to for their that is been going on for a while. The problem started to develop with the short term rentals of all of the problems you've heard we've seen them in Fairfield Bay the the one that really called me was one down the street not far for me and I had to one of the gas urinating in the front yard of seeing that to the that there are a was no control at the time so the city got together and they came up with a I'm ordinance it went into effect around the the July in twenty twenty two and the it has been working this way the people now if they want to have a short term rental in a residential area one this is on our one A. R. R. one B. they have to come to the Planning Commission. and they have to state government of fill out a form and then we in the planning we take these these requests in each individual member of the Planning Commission goes out and personally looks over that home Mr Steiner your three minutes is up if you to wind it up I appreciate it all well our Planning Commission does their thing then the city council does their thing and then finally that mayor has the final say and if if the they pass all the requirements sometimes we we allow a short term rental in a residential area there sometimes with us beneficial especially if they pick up an old house that run down the new renovated and picks it up and in most cases it that's not the case but bottom line a short term rentals need to be managed by a local government we have a Planning Commission we have the city council we have adequate recently of code enforcement and we use fire department people and we check the properties we need to manage them locally that's my point thank you Mr all right up next speaking against the bill is Marcia Dobbs Smith. Please identify yourself for the record for you represent you may proceed. Question five Smith from hot springs Arkansas I'm a small business owner and a long time residents of hot springs and I serve on the city board. And I'm here to speak against this bill we have spent so much time on this you guys many of you were elected on the idea of smaller government smaller government we don't want the feds coming in here telling us what to do and the cities don't want the state coming in here and telling us what to do we have worked very hard on this if you notice there are ten times as many people against this this new ruling that would come down in our cities you're expecting us to do the enforcement so it's basically an unfunded mandate we're not supposed to charge these businesses business licenses the people who have said that there for it are either directly involved in this business or they are people who have have an interest in it at some point they have an interest in in these businesses I heard one of our representatives say that the no one complained about the property values going up thank you went up because there commercial commercial property costs more than residential property these are businesses our neighborhoods don't want them listen to all these people I mean we're here met many of us are are not from from anywhere close to here we we got up at four in the morning drove here we spent all day we're in touch with our constituents the locals we go to church with these people we go to school with these people we work with them it's much easier to get a rule change on the local level if it Bellavista or whoever has a problem there's a problem with their elected officials it's a lot easier to get them out votomatic office and get someone in who will change the rules are are ordinance has been a fluid document we have listened to our constituents we have changed we have gone gone in different directions but you notice there was no one from hot springs Arkansas who came here to be against this of against a error for. Having this this law forced down our throats this is state control over local governments thank you. Appreciate your testimony. All right we have we have seventeen more left the so the next one up to speak against is jim von. But not everything I have served as Germany's been said more L.. All right. You're one of our favorites. The names doesn't get any easier on me here. Okay. A all right I'll take a stab at it and you guys help me okay. All right. S. H. O. S. H.. All right. I apologize if you would please state your name and who you represent you may proceed you're speaking against correct. So far so far yes thank you thank you Mr chair for giving us a chance to talk about it my name is Josh will I'm here to represent hotel industry tourism industry I'm a hotel owner in the state me and my fellow day or so sitting up here since morning the represents more of you to present more than three hundred hotels across the state the sponsor here has not considered many inspected off the implications of this bill on the industry of Hudson's morning about to in the city's coming year private citizens coming in and talking about the that person homes but also but nobody is talking about what's going to happen to the press for the whole tourism industry on this the sponsor wrote very clearly year on item number three Arkansas have Arkansans have the constitutional right to use of the property with instructions of it institution with instructions by the government short term rentals are white bill to the tourism the tourism off odd was an industry of Arkansas I believe it does to to those two sentences but he has written there but what he fails to one foot fails to understand about that is that how distraught them right what what what is written in the bill is the implications of that for example in is amendment he said that if there is a violation the city's can come and take STR property offline which is actually not possible because VS for VS hoteliers if if we could if we do something that is not supposed to be done city has no right to go to Marriott go to hell to go to marry a to go to Hilton or to go to Expedia booking dot com these are these are all online travel agencies or DJs to go there and tell them to take the property off at their B. and B. the other bill and other things are seem online today will agencies so city will not have any rights for telling them to take the property off the market he's defining market place here on it is defining market place here as Of the short term rental market place means a person who provides a platform the what platform Airbnb we are bill are the platforms are the very definition of these platforms he's also saying an item to eat local government cannot regulate the operations off short term letting go to market place is what he said suggesting that the local government state governments can not to regulate tax collections from these market places which is not fair because V. as business owners hotel owners tourism industry on investors are are going through that that regulation. For example albeit asking is level the playing field Is these so I ask the short term rental people to be property taxes to pay impact property taxes the the if you build a new hotel if you put a new apartment if you build up a new facility in any any any place we have to pay impact fees on that I ask them to do the same I ask them to a to provide insurance as you said I know my time is up but I'm going to take one moment Sir I ask them to provide insurance because there is a house that got burned down and that house insurance and not be afforded because it was not under the homeowner's policy I ask them to to abide by labour laws I was if money if money's exchange for services or discard business it is not called property right we are talking here about property rights let one last sentence or Vietnam Viet here as an industry we are supporting the STR we do understand that STR spot short term rentals these properties are vital part off tourism industry we are not here not to support that particular existence but the V. this bill is the victim is holding the second largest industry off of Arkansas we just providing hundred and twenty two thousand jobs in the state of Arkansas five point four million dollar rewards off five point four billion dollars worth of GDP affected by this instead of Arkansas so please do consider that please consider voting no for this bill I would request a sponsor to present a better bill so that can help the whole community not the community thank you. All right the speaking against the bill is Andy Patel. You would please state your name for you represent and you may proceed. My name is Andy Patel and at. I'm representing the hotel industry what size to state I don't want to repeat that but one thing I'd like to tell you that S. B. one nine seven will create a level playing field sole mighty quest we're not here to oppose the spouse as T. R. but we are here to oppose SB one nine seven how then he turned sole mighty quest to all of the all elected officials to look into and make changes on the bill otherwise this bill will take the dollar tax dollar that hotel industry creating itself to the to the Committee and CD's in the State of Arkansas right now we do not have any data that how much this S. T. are bringing that tax dollars to the city and the state so my request all of you to oppose this S. B. one nine seven thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony next up is John Wilkerson. If you would please identify yourself for the record and who you represent you may proceed. Thank you John Wilkerson general counsel Arkansas Municipal League I know you tired I'm tired I've been dealing with this since it was filed the center Brian who's was terrific to talk with us and represent McKenzie as well as the one listener concerns and as you can tell by everything happen today this is what we deal with city wide or statewide in cities we have competing people to come to city councils they bring their issues together and we we address those issues the best we can at that level in one ninety seven lot away takes takes away our ability to find that balancing between these these issues and so we ask that you reflect this remain a local issue because every city is going to be different when it comes to this Mountain Home is gonna be different in Jonesborough Jones was gonna be different in Fayetteville hello this is going to be different in Conway is we ask that we you may allow us to maintain that control I will say what's been said about the housing market I won't get into that because a lot of people said a lot of things about it but I will mention is really quickly in my short time here the amendments that I had and I have talked to Senator Bryant representative McKenzie about some ideas that I had to make the bill better and some that we can hopefully find some common ground first of all the the term group of units we have some concerns and some combined apartment complexes a group of units is not going to be short term rentals and so that the sure to create sort of a mini hotel not saying that that's the intent of the bill but I think that the language could lead to that that circumstance we also ask that the term zoning be extended to include subject all ordinances regulations or requirements that way it covers to make sure that we cover the fire code make sure we cover zoning laws make sure we cover any ordinances that already apply I'm. The one idea that we that I came up we're not came up with but I I work for Senator Hester on a couple sessions ago what's called an overly district as they do not design restriction bill and we added a overlay district the ability for a neighborhood or group of citizens in an area to petition the city to say we don't want a certain thing here and it's a majority the property owners there's notice required and it's basically I use a citizen neighborhood driven attempts to get some regulation in that neighborhood I think that's a good all the all the talk about you're hurting the characteristics of a neighborhood that's the way that we can maybe have citizen input and be driven by citizens another issue is the lack of a life health safety exception that's something that is actually in the air is on a law that that cities are able to issue are enacted rules or regulations for the primary purpose of protecting the public's health health and safety something separate apart from what's already in place for R. one a residential areas we've heard a lot about some safety issues that have come the safety issues that have have occurred we think this would be a good way to allow us that latitude so when something comes up that we're not for seeing right now some life sucks wife health safety issue we can address it in in the amendments that I Sir I talked with them about was make sure that it's in a demonstrated I will our record of a promise I'm sorry a demonstrator live health safety issue and one that requires a hearing in front of in front of a the governing body about from the public along with notice to short terminal operators so that they know that life health safety issue that we're saying we demonstrate and they can be part of the process to to help the lawn that potential regulation there's a lot more in the Arizona law and I reckon I respect resented mackenzie's point that the law that I'm looking at is the law that he's he did not model this off of but there's a lot in the air is on a law that I think could could help this bill so with that I appreciate your time and thank you for your attention thank you. You for your testimony. Next up to speak against it is Serra Jon Dale. Please identify yourself for the record and who you represent Sarah John Dahl city of Russellville at every point that I wanted to bring up is already been stated so just ask that you would vote against it at S. B. one ninety seven thank you thank you. Sturch. Keegan Stanton. Please identify yourself for the record in. Who you represent you may proceed. Thank you Mr chairman and members of the committee thank you for being here tonight my name's Keegan Stanton I'm a senior planner with the city Bentonville a lot of the items I was gonna discuss tonight have already been touched on so I won't take anymore time with those I did just want to add a couple things to the conversation I know a lot it's been said about the diversity of our state in the communities and our state to kind of want to talk about to the diversity of the scale and intensity that short term rentals have on the different communities in Bentonville we found data that shows we have somewhere around seven hundred short term rentals operating at any given time over the last couple weeks we've kind of reconfirm that data and we are it's about that rate in other cities in Northwest Arkansas but if you look outside to other communities in the state you might see numbers as low as thirteen some in the fifties and whatnot and and just understand that there are different impacts based on the number and and intensity intensity of these units throughout the community also looking at some of the language of the amendment I know there is a this amendment provides for thirty day window for city to sensually shut down a short term rental to address any issues or code violations looking at kind of practical terms if the short term rental can resume operation after that thirty day window you know operators may write in that is the cost of doing business of if there is cited for a violation also thinking about building code fire code issues if a building were to be deemed dangerous to the public or hazard to the public health or safety what a short term rental then be able to come back online after thirty days even if the building is still nineteen to hazard so just a concern with that and maybe there's some amendments that language that can be considered but. That's about all I've got for you today so thank you for your time. I appreciate your testimony. UP next meeting against the bill is Debbie Ross. If you would please identify yourself to recognize the three four five and are you represent you may proceed now I can find more info at I'm Debbie Ross I've been on the right city council for sixteen years so this isn't something new that we're there we're looking at in two thousand sixteen we passed a you know it just lies in that there was a thirty five dollar fee for short term rental no regulations that the and that's all of us and over the years we didn't have a very good response I think we have maybe nineteen that came in and got a thirty five dollar business license we've gone to host compliant companies we have anywhere maybe from her in thirty to forty eight hundred forty nothing compared to Bentonville but I want to say that. The difference in the owner occupied in the short in the non owner occupied is what I'm concerned with. A representative McKenzie he was interviewed by K. R. K. TV on February the eighth of February the ninth in the interview a representative McKenzie stated the purpose of this bill is to try and provide that does provide to those who have a primary residence to make sure that they're able to use the resident or peak times of the year to generate income and I was like great you know my kids that live in Bentonville litem rented out by explicit barbecues but when this was presented that's not that was that's that's what in the bill the bill is for all short term rentals it's not just for the owner occupied so. The one thing that I would ask you to please. At the please vote against this in its current form if you were brought back and it was just for the owner occupied short term rentals we have no problem with that we got legislation. Actually it's been on filed and we have no regulations for owner occupied it's only for the non owner occupied these are people that they don't calendar senses they don't have kids get our school there is there's so many things that and I know it's all it's not been talked about I'm not going to go over it but I respectfully ask you to please vote against this or bring it back in amended form which does allow the owner occupied. But regulates the non owner occupied they're not as contributor neighborhoods thank you. Thank you for your testimony up next speaking against the bill is the Baxter. Please identify yourself for the record and who you represent you may proceed estate Baxter I'm a city council member ward three in North Little Rock you know this is several several for prong approach here we got the property rights you got neighbor rights and then you have city rights you know much has changed in our society over the course of time in my neighborhood where I don't. On home it's a home is not a house it's a home that's where I raise my two boys to become good productive as a new members of society and I'm here I am serving my city Of the so. And when it comes to that my neighborhood was built many years ago right and not that I actually represent older part of the town it wasn't designed to have six cars for cars in you know her residence I've got a a a garage and a driveway that's all I have so my wife and I we have our two cars there and then my two boys had cars will if you allow short term rentals to the you know have parties which is what a lot of these in our particular area our party houses then you you take away a lot of the parking right because our our heirs want bill to sustain that much parking and what's been said by people who are for and against this issue is it comes down to an enforcement thing. Okay that's great right so you call the police where in each municipality does a call for parking illegally stack as it relates to a police response. Is it is it well ahead of a of someone you know brandishing a knife someplace I don't think so so you're trying to trying to. Put an additional response onto our police force which most wanted Mr palace don't have enough anyway you know I'm so I would ask you if there's a a way to commit to increase enforcement by either police or code enforcement and there's a magic powder here at the state legislature we can get that powder mix it with water and increase our police force in our code enforcement to you know in force those things are already on the books right additionally that's so that's the enforcement peace when it comes to and neighbors reach out to me. They don't reach out to you know the any of the state level individuals like reach out to me I'm down the street you know I'm I'm posted on the website this is your your your alderman call them it will we've got this you know this short term rental here and and they're doing this and that I would be called the police yes but the police are so slow to respond I get that. So in an effort for me to be effective right let us have that local control let us determine what is important what works for us we're not against STR's but at least let us regulate them in some form or fashion it makes it a win situation for our neighbors for the city and for those property owners thank you. Appreciate your testimony UP next to speak against it is autumn rains. If you would please state your name for the record images represent you may proceed good evening my name is ana rains thank you everyone for hanging here with us my name is autumn rains I mean you're resident in Little Rock I live in the heights neighborhood my husband and I moved here from Colorado last year I'm originally an Arkansas native I grew up in Conway. You know it's been an interesting conversation when meeting fellow or Kansans I'm often asked with why would you move back here which is almost always followed by the statement usually it's the other way around people to move out of Arkansas Colorado it's nice there I'll give you it's not why as we heard earlier but it's still nice. My response yes it is nice to see you I move back to Arkansas to be more involved with housing advocacy I'm here to work on housing safety issue specifically. A very dear friend of mine and resident of Little Rock Alec Lisco passed away from carbon monoxide poisoning is rental in February of twenty twenty one his death is a tragedy and it was totally preventable his family and our friends found out far too late that Arkansas does not have laws requiring detectors and within rentals not even today. Arkansas is behind every other state in our nation when it comes to protecting renters in ensuring safety. Short term rental ordinances are needed to ensure rental safety in addresses current issues without the ability to regulate rentals municipalities have no means to keep us safe. Short term rentals just like long term rentals are not subject to safety standards like requiring smoke and CO detectors. Isn't. Companies like Airbnb interfered with the R. BO are not in the business of validating rental list listings nor it are they in the business of ensuring safety for renters a quick Google search yields pages upon pages of rental horror stories you've heard plenty today and in some instances death from safety oversight and rentals research from a twenty twenty one study found that there were over seven thousand reports of unsafe conditions including infestations and mold and short term rentals if that's if SB one ninety seven passes it would prevent any municipality from adopting best practices to include routine safety inspections that save lives and keep us safe. Safety comes first I know we've all heard this before but is a leadership in this room actually believe it how many more residents or visitors to our state let's face terrible living conditions unsafe living conditions that have detrimental consequences for their health. I wrap it up here because I know right running out of time so last not least please vote no against this and also please excuse my testimony today as a reminder to go home and check your detectors for safety whether you're renting owning and traveling in the future be safe thank you. Thank you we appreciate your testimony UP next is Katie right. If you would please state your name who represent you may proceed hi there everyone thank you so much for being so patient with this group my name's Katie right I represent the American hotel and lodging association is the nation's largest hotel association representing all facets of the industry. Arkansas and directly employs nearly thirty thousand residents paying more than five hundred million in wages and salaries and I contributing a hundred and sixty five million in local taxes annually on behalf of our industry I'm here to voice opposition to the bill in its current form or one of the many we've seen today We are concerned that this bill could have negative unintended consequences on Arkansas neighborhoods and give preferential treatment to short term rental owners and the platforms that facilitate bookings. As a guiding principle we also believe short term rentals and the platform see is should abide by the same laws as details and every other business registering their business paying taxes following laws and regulations and removing illegal listings we believe municipalities should be free to adopt and implement reasonable planning and zoning laws that govern short term rentals recognizing that each community is different and local control is paramount many communities struck continue to struggle with investor purchased short term rental properties limiting the local housing supply and resulting in a revolving door of strangers right next to single family homes Arizona passed similar legislation to what is proposed here today and spent the next six legislative sessions at six years rescinding the law because areas were inundated with short term rental properties consuming almost thirty percent of the housing supply and it's liberating neighborhoods. You may think Arkansas is in Arizona the facts indicate otherwise. In six key markets in Arkansas there are more than five thousand active rentals the sources their DNA. The Bellavista market is up two hundred and sixty six percent since twenty twenty I urge you to please at least look into amending the bill or the president's fall. Thank you thank you we appreciate your testimony UP next is James Walton. Eighty first. All right thank you. The next after that is still as Bearden. Is this bill is here. Okay after that is done I can't. His daughter not here okay. The next is a Reggie Krause. Okay we'll skip over him right now we'll come back to. Of. Truett Smith. Please state your name and who you represent may proceed thank you Mr chairman my name is Tricia Smith I am the director of community development for the city of Bryant with it being so late I do want to be extremely brief I do agree with what's been stated so far in the against and to summarize my notes you know I'm just I'm against this bill in its current state I think would be detrimental not just private communities all around Arkansas so I'd encourage you to vote no on this or bring it back in a different form thank you for your patience today and really appreciate your time thank you. Thank you for your testimony. next up to speak against it is Danny Patel. If you would please state your name and who you're representing you may proceed thank you. Sorry okay all right can you hear me now okay I'm Daddy Patel I'm from Conway Arkansas regional director for state of Arkansas for a whole the largest hotel owners association in the war my number's Association on sixty percent of American hotel industry and by the numbers in Arkansas to its ninety percent owned by our members and I am an owner and operator I have several hotels in the state and I do on rental several rent as a rental properties in the state and I do oppose this bill for several reasons. Safety security taxes homeowners save small business owner and and it's very old and poorly written bill. the STR is not playing by the rules as or industry it's hard in hospitality big time. Who pays their bills who pays to do is we employs hundreds and thousands of employees and I'll give you a fact of one of the hotels we did in Conway Arkansas we build just to get the permit it was labeled as a commercial building the impact fee for that property seventy six thousand dollars. The property taxes thirty eight thousand dollar document C. and P. County state tourism all the tax around a hundred and fifty thousand a year if you pay for just one property I don't know what's to STR is going to bring for us. what policing staff I have rental properties guys again how we going to please these rental property staff just as we speak one of the city. Has this issue the parents are outraged C. register sex offender is allowed on the school grounds NBA here talking about how we gonna stop that guy from the next door to you. How we can keep him away from their. Another big thing is sex human and drug trafficking. Right now there is no so called registration for those guys they are eating and now. Governor Attorney General all are pushing to make Arkansas free from that and they are getting help from the hotel industry in a small business owner we are a for that I don't know how we can stop that from if you're on a second thing and most of them I heard about the data I am a data right now I own hundreds of rentals in C. the state of Arkansas I don't believe in that neighborhood I don't believe in that city's two and sometime some of the properties that we have I don't believe in the state as well that's the data. And we talk about Colin and restriction just imagine I'm from city of Conway a builder decide to buy a lot bill sixty two hundred homes just to make his own covenant restriction. And we're talking about state telling. Of going to restrict some guys that you can allow that but I can about the park board in my next door. Mr Patel would you your time so would you wind it up yes said this is the last thing I want to see so that is that the we are not suggesting to prohibit the wreckage and rentals we are a small business owner and the neighbors will believe in technology McKesson rental concept however we truly believe this to play by the same rules and regulations as hoteliers are small business owners does and how city and neighborhood once each cities and towns are different let them to is it thank you. I appreciate your testimony. speak against it is cal Macon. Please state your name and who you represent the leprosy. So my name's comic and I represent the lodging industry as well so I just one echo everyone that was against it I a Eckel all their feelings right and so I have two minutes and forty five seconds left and I defer to Abby so we get. Thank you for your time. All right Reggie. Read. Reggie Krause's Reggie here. Okay I have no one else on the list have I'll have I overlooked anyone. All right. at this time I'd ask the sponsor to go the into the table. I understand somebody has a motion to. expunge the vote from the Amendment I do okay you're recognized so I make a motion that we expunge the vote for the amendment. Do you need more than that yeah yeah give me give me the. Yes from the previous from this morning's amendment which was Amendment number two to number one have you got. D. D. T. P. sixty was the amendment. Page. If you if you would in your motion. Deti P. one sixty yes Sir the T. P. one sixty all right thank you all right have a motion any discussion on the motion to expunge. If not all in favor say aye. Those opposed say no all right. In you're recognized thank you Mr thing committee I appreciate everyone's patience today I understand that Bills of of this significance they require a lot of public testimony at this time I would like to pull the bill down so I can make a clean amendment on members own and so that we can come back and vote on a clean bill at the next meeting of city county local. All right any other discussion.