City to Develop Ordinance for Short-Term Rentals

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Plan Commission Directs City Staff to Develop Ordinance

Marshfield, WI (OnFocus) The City of Marshfield will move forward with developing an ordinance that would lay out regulations for short-term rentals such as Airbnb.

On Jan. 14, the Common Council approved an option brought forth by the City Plan Commission that would create a licensing program for those who plan to rent their property, meaning that room tax could be collected. This route would also open up short-term rentals to all zoning districts, making the process to rent out a location less difficult.

[Related: Council Discusses Proposed Regulations for Short-Term Rentals]

The Council’s feedback directed City staff to move forward with the licensing option, and the item was sent back to the Plan Commission on Jan. 21.

Plan Commission members discussed the item.

“There was some controversy in the news fairly recently about Airbnbs being party houses, so I’d like to see some sort of restriction on that type of use,” said John Kaprelian.

“One of the things we discussed is we can have a minimum stay if we would like, anything under seven days. If we feel limiting it to four days would stop party houses, then that’s something we can look into,” said Bryce Hembrook, City Planner. “In my opinion Marshfield isn’t necessarily a bachelor/bachelorette destination like a Nashville or San Diego beach house. We can look into ways to address that. We have a couple regulations ready to go that we’ll probably bring back, and those include the noise complaints.”

The Plan Commission unanimously passed a motion to direct City staff to develop an ordinance for future consideration. This item will be discussed at the February meeting.

City to Review Rules for Airbnb

News Desk
Author: News Desk

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