City council urged to act on bnb regulations
CLINTON — Commissioner John Wise on Monday urged the city council to move to create regulations governing bnb, or short-term, rentals.
The topic emerged in January when the council realized there were a number short term rental proprietors located in residential areas of Clinton, but the city did not have an ordinance to regulate them.
Wise distributed to the council copies of a newspaper story from Decatur telling how that city established a tax and ordinance for its bnb rentals. He said the city set up a permitting process and enacted an 8 percent sales tax on the rentals.
“We could kind of mirror something like that,” Wise said. “We need to do something because we know there are people renting houses, they are in residential areas.”
Wise said the city needed to decide whether it was going to establish regulations to allow the short-term rentals or ban them.
“We need to get it done, one way or the other,” Wise said.
He said if the city was not going to allow them, those operators needed to be notified. Wise said the city needed to fine the existing bnb operators in residential areas or set up a process to permit them.
“That way, we can track them, because it’s not fair to the motels who are doing it correctly,” he said.
Wise stressed the urgency of making a decision. The city continues to receive inquiries from people who want to open bnb establishments.
“We’ve got to take care of it,” he said.