NORTH MANKATO — The city of North Mankato is close to new short-term rental regulations for Airbnb-style rentals, but the North Mankato Planning Commission still has concerns about how rental owners would be regulated.
The commission reviewed the latest proposed regulations during a public meeting Thursday night, about two months after an initial discussion on the proposed code. They hope to review updated regulations during a November commission meeting.
North Mankato officials crafted an initial policy earlier this year after they discovered rentals available when the NFL brought Super Bowl LII to Minneapolis. City staff identified six homeowners at the time who hosted short-term rentals on Airbnb, but have since found only two homeowners who continue to rent out their property.
Council members decided in June to move forward with a potential ordinance. They asked the commission to review regulations city staff created based on similar ordinances from St. Paul, Savage, St. Peter and Duluth.
Under North Mankato’s proposed policy, licenses would be required for would-be hosts to allow people to stay in their homes. The licenses would require home inspections and off-street parking, but wouldn’t require homeowners to live at the property they rent out — license holders could appoint an agent who lives within 30 miles to deal with any potential concerns.
The city’s rental rules would generally remain the same for short-term rental hosts, except short-term hosts wouldn’t fall under North Mankato’s rental density policy. Rental owners would have to pay a $50 application fee to apply for a short-term rental license, which covers properties that rent to people for less than 30 consecutive days. Owners would also be charged an annual license fee.
Community Development Director Mike Fischer told the commission the city may want to look into occupancy caps for short-term rentals, potentially as high as eight people at a time.
“It’s something that we’ve seen over and over in other cities’ codes,” Fischer said.
Commission member Jason Beal expressed concern with short-term rental owners facing the same sort of enforcement as regular landlords. Under North Mankato’s rental license policy, landlords get three strikes on their license. After that, council members can decide to issue a fine, or suspend or revoke the landlord’s rental license.
Short-term rental owners won’t have as much control over unruly tenants as regular landlords, and in some cases short-term landlords could find ways to continuously rent their property to tenants and duck the city’s regulations.
“Who’s going to enforce that?” Beal said.
Beal and other commission members want North Mankato staff to look into other ways to enforce short-term rental rules.
Short-term rentals have exploded in popularity since Airbnb began in 2008. Though it hasn’t gone over well with traditional bed-and-breakfasts, short-term rentals have gained enough popularity to cause cities across southern Minnesota to look into more rental ordinances.
Communities from Rochester to St. Peter are reviewing potential short-term rental codes. Few communities outside of the Twin Cities have adopted such rules yet, but demand for short-term stays grows every time there’s a major event in Minnesota.
The St. Peter City Council has discussed a similar short-term rental policy but has yet to take action.
