City receives 75 applications for short-term rentals

The city of Springfield received 75 applications for short-term rentals after City Council voted in January to regulate the industry dominated by Airbnb.

The 30-day grace period for short-term rentals closed Feb. 27, said Daniel Neal, senior planner for the city. The grace period means property owners who applied would not be subject to density limitations of one Type 2 rental per eight structures on each side of a single block.

“We really don’t know what the true number is,” Neal said of short-term rental properties operating in Springfield. “When we were looking at this, we were thinking there was somewhere around 200.”

Of the applications received, around 63 were for Type 2 rental properties. Type 2 properties are not owner-occupied, are rented for periods of less than 30 consecutive days and are located within a residential single-family or residential town-hall district.

Neal said the next step for Type 2 owners is to host neighborhood meetings to gather the consent of at least 55 percent of adjacent property owners.

He said the Rountree neighborhood has the highest concentration of short-term rentals in the city, followed by Phelps Grove.

Council finalized regulations for short-term rentals on Jan. 28 through a substitute bill after property owners had been operating them illegally for the last few years, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

Licensing fees range from $25 to $105 per year, according to a city news release.

Popular short-term rental site Airbnb recently provided data showing Springfield operators grossed $1.4 million from 15,800 guests last year.