Committee Airbnb conversation hits boiling point

The chair of Havre City Council's Ordinance Committee nearly adjourned a meeting Monday when a heated argument erupted regarding Airbnbs, with people in the audience exchanging profanities and obscene gestures.

"This is not appropriate. This is not an appropriate time for this, if it is going to go like that we are going to have to close the meeting," Chair Caleb Hutchins said.

City Council member and Ordinance Committee Chair Caleb Hutchins informed community members if the meeting continued in that manner the Ordinance Committee would have to adjourn the meeting.

Directly following the Havre City Council meeting, the Ordinance Committee held a meeting to discuss a proposal to change the ordinance for the qualifications to hire firefighters. The arguments arose during the portion of the discussion about whether or not to pursue changes to ordinances for temporary rental units - Airbnbs - and the potential of having a business license ordinance established.

Airbnbs use online booking for people to rent all or part of their home for short stays.

City Council has been discussing the issue for more than a year after the council found out Kerma Boyum and her husband, Joe Sarmiento, were running an Airbnb in Northern Heights, which is a residential A-1 zone. The council started looking into whether it was legal to run an Airbnb in that zone, and determined it was not allowed there, although it is allowed in a general residential zone.

Boyum and Sarmiento started working with the city in September of last year to find out what they needed to do.

It came up again in recent months when they submitted a petition to the council to rezone their neighborhood to a general residential zone.

The council voted down the petition last month after several residents from the neighborhood spoke against it.

The city later sent Boyum and Sarmiento an order to cease and desist operating their Airbnb.

Hutchins said the city needed to discuss what future actions it would take with Airbnbs because of their growing popularity nationwide. He added that he has been looking into what some other areas have been doing with the introductions of Airbnbs, such as in Bozeman, which has the most recently enacted ordinance passed in the state regarding Airbnbs.

Bozeman's registration process requires people to fill out a form to set up a short-term rental business. The registration includes name and address of the property owner and emergency contact information. It also requires the property owner to pay for a registration fee, have a sketch of the property, off street parking, a fire inspection, a lodging tax identification number and an accommodations license issued by the Montana Health and Human Services.

He added that Bozeman also divided short-term rentals into three categories. In Type 1, the owner is present at the rental at all times; in Type 2, the primary property owner is a resident, but does not live on the property when it is rented; and in Type 3, the property owner is not a resident of the property. Hutchins said Type 1 is allowed in all residential areas, Type 2 is allowed in residential general - not residential suburban or residential single household - and Type 3 is not allowed in any residential area.

Mayor Tim Solomon said the ordinance also says Type 1 is only grandfathered in residential suburban and residential single households in Bozeman and new Airbnbs are not allowed.

He added that it is important the committee looks into creating a business license for residential general because, on multiple occasions, the city has been unaware of a business starting in a residential area and finds the business is in violation of the zoning laws.

"And we become the bad guys afterword," Solomon said. "... We weren't aware of these businesses were in areas they were zoned against. We are not the bad guys, we're just enforcing the ordinances we have on the books."

If the city had a business license, the city would be able to advise and help businesses before an issue arises, he said, adding that the city just needs to know. 

He added that another Airbnb which started in Havre had to go through the zoning board, which gave her a list of requirements, such as an offstreet parking area and a fire inspection, in order to continue her business.

Hutchins said he wants to encourage people to start small businesses. 

Council member and committee member Karen Swenson said it is a good idea to make changes for residential general, but as far as Northern Heights residents, the council and committee has already heard loud and clear from people in the area that they do not want their zoning changed.

"We should respect that," she said.

During public comment on the issue, Sarmiento said he and Boyum do not want to totally rezone the area, although it seems to be what people think they are doing.

"We want a peaceful neighborhood, but I think the issue here is the perception about Airbnbs," he said.

He said he wants to keep the peace and quiet of the neighborhood, just like his neighbors, but Airbnb is not like other businesses. He added that they had operated the Airbnb for five to six months - illegally - and during that time received no complaints or phone calls from their neighbors. He said many of them were unaware of the business and that proves Airbnb is a low-impact business.  

"In hindsight, I know that we could have done it a lot differently, so we are sorry about that," he said. "... It's not all about us, it's about Kerma and I moving forward and making the concept of Airbnb available to people who want to have that personal touch and make extra money."

He said the average stays were overnight and only on occasion. He added that while they had guests they referred them to restaurants, tourist attractions and local places to go.

Boyum said they had approximately 60 different visitors during their time in operation.

Sarmiento added that other people in the area want Airbnbs, but it's not going to explode in the area. It's Havre, he said, and it's not a large tourist place and he doubts a large number of Airbnbs are going to be established like some people fear.

"If governments can create laws it can also modify them to the changing needs and wants of the populous," Sarmiento said. "No city or state law is set in stone and you have to go by the trend and today, not 30 or 40 years ago."

He added that he thinks the ordinance doesn't need to be revamped or changed, it just needs to be updated, and all they are asking is for Airbnbs, not only at their place, but all residential, to be treated similarly to day-care centers which are already allowed in all residential areas. 

Community member Greg Dolven said the ordinance committee doesn't understand the issue. 

"A variance, to me, is a way to get around zoning laws," he said, adding that he is not against Airbnbs, but Havre has other places they are allowed. 

"With free enterprise, you also have to have some rules and regulations, and that's what zoning laws are. They protect us from these kind of things coming into our district," he said.

He added that he and his family have lived in their home in Northern Heights for more than 30 years and one of the reasons they moved to the home was the zoning laws. He said it was a place they could settle down peacefully and invest in and that Airbnbs threaten to make a big difference in the environment of the neighborhood and the property value.

A number of people have already spoken against the change, he said. 

"There has been a lot of turmoil because of this in the neighborhood," Dolven said. "I don't want to be that way. I want to be a good neighbor, but this is not helping."

Northern Heights resident Don Stein also spoke against Airbnbs operating there.

"I thought we put this issue to bed a while back," he said.

He added that Airbnbs shouldn't be shoved down people's throats if a number of people have already spoken out against them. He said the council already has discussed how Boyum's request could be seen as spot zoning and if they go through with establishing or changing the zoning laws it could cause legal repercussions. 

"Let's get this calmed down and handled respectfully before things get out of hand," he said.

Northern Heights resident Lori Freier added that she has looked into the statistics, which show that properties located near Airbnbs generally take longer to sell and have a lower property value. She said her concern was about this issue and its impact.

Boyum said times changes and people need to keep up; Airbnbs have proven to be good for people and have a positive impact on communities. She added that she instructed the other Airbnb in town to do it the right way after she found out she was in violation herself. The complaints are not against Airbnb, she said.

People who oppose the Airbnb have other reasons to be against it.

"All these complaints, they're just grasping at straws," she said.

She told the committee that the people speaking against Airbnbs were at only at the meeting to be vindictive.

Committee member Lindsey Ratliff said people need to stop turning this issue into a personal conflict and need to start working toward a goal.

"We are moving forward with a solution, not to hash out whatever happened in the past," she said.

She added that she understands where both parties are coming from, but animosity shouldn't drive whether someone should operate a business.

Council member Sarah McKinney, who attended the committee meeting, said she understands people have rights but they also need to be considerate of their neighbors.

"Just because I own my house doesn't mean I get to do whatever I want," she said.

Hutchins said if the issue continues to be a neighborly dispute the ordinance committee doesn't want to be involved, but is interested in looking into a business license for residential general areas. 

He added that the council and the committee has heard mainly from people who oppose Airbnbs, but if more people were to show interest in the business the issue may be worth pursuing.

Changing process to hire firefighters

During the meeting, Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson told the council that the ordinance that was used to hire firefighters is out of date and in conflict with state law, specifically the age restriction for applicants. He suggested the ordinance committee look into simplifying the ordinance to conform to the state law. He added that this allows for a wider range of applicants and protects the city from and legal issues down the road.

The ordinance committee agreed to look into the ordinance.