Palmer City Council approves short-term rentals ordinance

PALMER — The Palmer City Council finally approved Ordinance 19-003 relating to short-term rentals.

Despite confusion over the amount of time available and a motion to postpone for a second public hearing, the council approved the ordinance 4-3 with Julie Berberich, Sabrena Combs, David Fuller and Pete LaFrance voting in support.

After numerous discussions by the council, the ordinance was sent back to the Palmer Planning and Zoning Commission for review, where they recommended their original measure. The types of short term rentals such as Airbnb’s available are type one, which is an owner occupied single residency that is renting a bedroom or separate dwelling, type two which is an owner occupied single residence that doesn’t have to be owner occupied and can only be rented out to one party at a time, explained Community Development Director Brad Hanson. Type three is a multi-family space not occupied by the owner that may be rented to more than one person. Type four and five both feature separate distinctions based on size. Both are homestay-type rentals that may be run by an owner or manager.

“When I bought my home 31 years ago, I did it with every expectation that that would be under the protection of the code and that the code was it would be a single family residence and that I would be surrounded with folks that had the same thing,” Councilwoman Linda Combs said.

Linda Combs was surprised that no one else on the council had heard from any of the residents that had contacted her in opposition. Former Council member Larry Hill brought a petition signed by 16 residents in opposition to the ordinance.

“If we’re going to put an ordinance in let’s give the proper criteria for enforcement,” Hill said. “We’ve had two, possibly three now of this situation going on in Palmer in Bailey Heights subdivision and nobody wants to do a damn thing about it, excuse my French.”

Hill suggested a second public hearing comment, which had been a question raised by Linda Combs. Councilman Steve Carrington moved to postpone the vote for yet another public hearing, which failed with Carrington, Linda Combs and Mayor Edna DeVries in support of postponing. Sabrena Combs mentioned that none of the residents who may have voiced their displeasure to Linda Combs came to testify to the council, and that the addition of the requirement of a Conditional Use Permit to obtain a license gave an opportunity for neighbors to voice their opposition and the council would not approve the CUP. Sabrena Combs owns her own Airbnb.

“I was incredibly surprised when I opened my Airbnb at how busy it was because of the lack of short term housing available in Palmer,” Sabrena Combs said.

Dean Phipps voiced his support for CUP’s in R1 districts, and said that families traveling to Palmer to watch their children compete in sporting events would be ideal tenants for short-term rentals.

“We can’t tell people what to do with their property, we can’t tell people who they can and cannot rent to and we want Palmer to be a gateway community. We want people to come to Palmer, we want people to visit Palmer, we want people to spend money in Palmer. This is a win-win situation and if you and your neighbors don’t want that one guy in the neighborhood to have an Airbnb, that’s what this CUP is for,” Councilman David Fuller said.

Fuller noted that due to the Glenn Highway construction, Palmer just lost one hotel and is not likely to see any more in the city limits in the near future.

“I’d be happy to submit a CUP confirming my location has adequate parking space for those renting from me without causing a nuisance on my neighborhood. I support having affordable lodging available to visitors of Palmer and believe by having them conveniently spend the evening in our city, we’re only increasing the commerce possible for local businesses,” Cassi Campbell said. “I’d love the opportunity to share this great town with more people by hosting them in my home.”

City Attorney Michael Gatti ‘muddied the waters’ by pointing out a possible complication in the Palmer Municipal Code, referencing section 17.89.070.

“It talks about standards and the c section says the length of a stay within a short term rental shall be for a period of less than 30 days per calendar year and documentation verifying the length of stay of each guest such as registration ledger or receipt shall be made available to the city upon request,” Gatti said.

The discussion then centered around the confusion of if each Airbnb host could only rent their property for 30 days out of an entire calendar year. LaFrance asked for staff to clarify that during his comments.

United Way Mat-Su Director Stephanie Allen gave some good news to the council. Allen informed the council that $13,000 has been raised for five light poles, lights, and electricity to be provided to the Amoosement park.

“It’s a place that often times has vandalism and families don’t feel safe there, kids don’t feel safe there all the time and lighting has been a deterrent. There’s also some drug use and drug trafficking happening there,” Allen said. “How do we build a really health community that fosters community development and making places safe and fun and available for all?”

Dr. Jill Valerius spoke to the council in support of a $1,000 grant for the Palmer Spring Classic, a bike event for all ages entering it’s seventh year. The event will feature 25-mile, 62-Kilometer and 100-mile rides beginning at Vagabond Blues and ending behind the Palmer Alehouse.

“We’re promoting safety and cycling in town we have historically been able to draw a fair number of folks that are outside of the palmer and wasilla area and last year we had over 60 participants that come in the hope is that we’re also bringing people into palmer and supporting our businesses,” Valerius said.

The council approved the grant unanimously. The council unanimously passed $3,641.06 for wildland firefighting equipment during public hearings. DeVries presented two proclamations, the first was in recognition of the Palmer High School eSports team for their achievement in competing in the 2018 fall Overwatch National Championships Invitational.

“Thank you for representing us well,” DeVries said.

Not one to be found gaming online, DeVries slipped up and referred to the Overwatch team as both ‘overlords’ and ‘overreach.’ Casey Petersen was approved to sit on the Planning and Zoning Commission. City Manager Nathan Wallace detailed that Airframes Alaska has begun construction on their new facility and that $1.2 million in building permits have been awarded for airplane hangars at the Warren ‘Bud’ Woods Municipal Airport. While Wallace is on his month-long vacation, the longest he has ever been out of office since assuming office, Palmer Police Chief Lance Ketterling will assume his duties.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.