Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

[music] [music] Good evening everyone. I would like to call the Monday, February 9th, 2026 Blue Springs Planning Commission meeting to order. Please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America. Republics, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Tracy, can I get a roll call please for attendance? Of course. Commissioner How here.

Commissioner Graham. Commissioner Kra present. Commissioner Sanderson present. Commissioner Smith present. Commissioner Stokenberry present. Commissioner Pumprey present. Commissioner Ingresol present. Chairperson present. Thank you Tracy. At this time I would entertain a motion for approval on the consent agenda for the approval for the last meeting which was on December 22nd, 2025. Chair I move to approve the minutes. Second and a second. All those in favor.

Any opposed? All right. That passes. At this time, I will open the public hearing for UDC text amendment UDCT-01-26-9774, short-term rentals. I will ask for exhibits from our city attorney, Josh Newell. City would like to enter exhibit one. Thank you, Josh. And at this [snorts] time, I understand Nick is ready for a presentation.

Yes. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Nick Hutcherson. I'm the interimm director of city development. Uh before you tonight is the proposed UDC tax amendment related to short-term rentals. Uh the purpose of this amendment is not to prohibit short-term rentals, but to establish a more clear and enforceable standard um that will address life safety, neighborhood compatibility, and tax compliance. This item comes forward in response to city council direction and community concerns related to short-term rental operations, particularly around noise, parking occupancy, and the city's ability to ensure hotel motel tax compliance. At a high level, this amendment modifies three sections of the code. Uh first is chapter 605 business licensing um and establishing annual registration for short-term rentals requiring a local responsible agent uh for anybody operating to short-term rental sets operational and performance standards creates a graduated enforcement framework. Section two is chapter 655 hotel and motel which clarifies that short-term rentals are subject to hotel motel tax and requires either direct remittance or documentation of platform remittance of the tax. And third is the unified development code uh providing clarification that short-term rentals are provided a uh permitted residential use wherever dwelling units are allowed and confirms that operational standards um live in section 605. The key operational standards for short short-term rentals are occupancy has to be two persons per legal bedroom plus two additional occupants with a maximum of 10 occupants unless otherwise approved by the fire marshall. Parking um includes one off- streetet parking space per bedroom up to four spaces for properties in downtown. On street parking in a quarter mile area may be used to satisfy this requirement. For

noise and events, quiet hours are from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and outdoor amplified sound is prohibited during this time. There are no commercial or ticketed events allowed in short-term rentals. Life safety requires uh smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers. And um they'll be required to provide code compliant ingress and egress. the local contact. Um, a uh responsible agent must be available 247 and respond on site within 60 minutes. And this uh text amendment was presented to the development advisory committee at their January 20th meeting and they recommended approval to planning commission city council. Based on this analysis provided in the staff report, staff recommends approval of the UDC text amendment and short-term rental as presented. I do also want to note that um the Kansas City Regional Association of Realators did provide a letter this afternoon um and that was sent out to the board and it's also a part of the record. Um the primary concerns were for parking and the adequacy of parking for historic properties and then the second was the requirement for a um responsible agent. uh they felt like that was too restrictive. Um a lot of the other communities within the Kansas City metro require a responsible agent to be either on site at all times or live on an adjacent parcel. So, we basically have made it a little bit more flexible and saying, you know, within a 60-minute response time, which would cover most of the Kansas City metro, um it would be uh compliant with um you know, most property management

operations. Happy to answer any questions commission may have. So, does this apply to uh is this a 30-day what's the time limit for the short-term rental? So, uh the definition for short-term rental is anything under 31 days.

Would would this apply to somebody who's like owner occupied living there and renting a room or like renting like a couch surfing sort of situation? So, if they were doing couch surfing and it was under 31 days, then they would be considered a short-term rental. If they were over that 31 day, then they would not be considered a 30 uh a short-term rental. Basically, it's for like Airbnb. Yeah. Is what this is for. Yeah.

I don't know. I've never I stayed in a lot of Airbnbs over the last 10 years and I've never had one that had a 60-minute response time in any state or city that I've been in. Like I understand the thinking, but we don't hold apartment complexes, town houses, and other property management companies that lease to people who pay them monthly fee. I don't think that's fair for short-term rental people either. That's my my personal opinion. So, I think 24 hours sufficient [clears throat] thing is who's going to police 60 minutes? Like nobody polices the slumlords here.

It's not requiring them to necessarily respond in that 60-minute period. It's saying that they are located in that 60inute. Yeah, we I I don't like that we don't require the slords around here to do that. I don't think we should require an Airbnb. That's my personal opinion. Could could you uh reiterate what what prompted this discussion tonight? What was the council's reason or I think you mentioned council one,

correct? Yeah. So, um [clears throat] especially with World Cup coming up uh this spring, um you know, there's been an increased demand and interest in short-term rentals, not only in Blue Springs, but across the metro. And so, city council had tasked staff with creating uh regulation for short-term rentals as you know they presents themselves for Blue Springs because currently there are no regulations for short-term rentals

and it's essentially creating a level playing field for the hotel motel tax uh for hotels and other rental properties that are paying that tax which you know currently short-term rentals are not you you know, somebody that's listing a property on Airbnb or some other platform, uh, they are currently not remitting that tax for a short-term rental in Blue Springs.

How are you determining there's a high demand here in Blue Springs? just based off of research that we've had from Mark and other you know organizations talking about the prevalence and the interest of um short-term rentals. We get inquiries frequently about people wanting to start a short-term rental in Blue Springs, but we don't currently have any regulations, so there isn't anything that would apply to their operations. question. Sure.

Can you define what you mean by the 60 minute response time? So, should they are they just supposed to answer a phone call within 60 minutes or do they have to address the issue in 60 minutes? The way it's written is the 60 minute requirement is the person who's the responsible agent has to reside in that 60 minute radius. That's not to say that there is no specified response time in the code for that responsible agent.

It's it's to me it seems like it's aimed to keep companies out of it, which I I understand that. Like I 100% understand that. Just Yeah. Yeah, I guess I'm just thinking that, you know, 60 minutes if they're just asking someone to to live within that radius and be available for a phone call because, you know, someone's kitchen is flooding. 24 hours, you're going to need to address that more quickly, right? So, having a 60 minute being available to address it or just, you know, be available to answer a phone call, I think, is reasonable. Yeah. So I get the intent. I think

and it's really and it's also too in the interest of city staff and resources because you know a lot of these will ultimately go to PD and you know we don't need our police officers responding to short-term rental issues and complaints on a excessive you know amount. So having that responsible agent that can handle these calls and deal with the situation without it escalating to that level would be in the interest of the community as a whole. What happens to the agents that live out of state? They wouldn't qualify as a responsible agent because they wouldn't be

Well, I mean, I guess they could live in Kansas as long as they're in a 60 minute radius from Blue Springs. Uh I've got a couple. Uh first of all, the development advisory committee. Who who is that? And tell me about that organ that group. Is it a city board? Correct. Okay. Yeah. So the DAC is composed of five members. I don't I can pull that up for you.

Not asking. But the role of the DAC is to review [clears throat] any text amendment or policy changes uh to the UDC or city policy and make that recommendation to planning commissioning.

I also have similar concerns as my fellow commissioners along with a few additional ones. Um, item G does say that the agent shall be available 24 hours a day and respond on site within 60 minutes to complaints for emergencies. So, even a minor complaint, the way I'm reading this, the way it's worded, which is why I cannot support this the way it's worded, is it clearly says the agent must be available 24 hours per day and respond on site within 60 minutes to complaints or emergencies. I could understand if that was an emergency, but certainly no no complaints. So, um, I have the same concern with that along with just a few other minor ones about the way this is written. Uh, scroll back up to item D. It's talking about trash, refuge, containers, placement, and removal in accordance with a city collection schedules. Does the city have a collection schedule? Because my trash service sets the collection schedule. So, I'm wondering if that was just cut and pasted from somewhere else or if there's a collection schedule I'm not aware of. Um, [clears throat] and I didn't take the time today to go to Airbnb or BBRO and check other listings, but without [clears throat] doing, excuse me, more due diligence on my own under item H, the listing disclosure. I and I'm not being judgmental here, but I would really want to explore if other municipalities are requiring listings that include the city registration number, the occupancy limit, the parking instructions, and quiet hours. The way I'm reading that is that all those things have to be

included in a listing online somewhere. And that seems excessive to me. Um I also have some questions about the how they collect the tax. Um item 655.130 item B says operator shall be shall file monthly returns or provide documentation that a booking platform is is collecting taxes. Um, is that normal for some to require a business or hotels to file monthly or quarterly? Again, I'm not saying it's bad or wrong. I I just don't know. It sounds excessive to me, but if that's normal, then then I'd be okay with that. Here's those are my small concerns. My greater concerns are that we are a body that approves everything that we see on a regular basis and including text amendments. We rarely see text amendments.

We're used to plat, final plat, subdivisions, signs, uh new new buildings going up, new coffee shop, new restaurants, parking spaces, lighting, landscaping. We're all used to that. We're not used to this. I can't support this because I I in a sense I almost feel like I'm not qualified to vote it but yet we're put in this position so therefore I am. What would make me feel better about voting for it is and I'm a I don't want more meetings in my life, but if there was some kind of workshop or or if we were given different materials that help us get a base work or or ground zero or baseline, then I would feel more comfortable um doing my job as a commissioner and voting yes or no. But the way it's written right now, um, I struggle and I probably won't. And that's my thoughts about it. I do think, additionally, I do think that the the city needs something like this. I just think it needs to um be kicked back with some more discernment and consideration.

That's my comments to that. I have one other comment in reading it. Um, there's some life safety items in the ordinance. Um, the text amendments that talks about um, carbon monoxide fire extinguishers. And what we're asking is for an owner or a landlord or somebody doing it to self-certify.

And I would think that from a hotel, if we're looking, we're thinking about collecting hotel taxes, that a hotel is having a fire marshal come annually and check those things and make sure that's all good. And so, um, that was something just in reading it that, um, kind of said like if we if we're wanting to set a standard that this is a hotel and collect the hotel tax, then we should have some enforcement in the life safety and confirmation. I concur with with my colleagues up here because we didn't have enough time to really study this and it would be nice to get a couple different perspectives on the matter.

Yep. What we could do is uh we could table this item and uh look to schedule a work session and staff could provide a um kind of comparison chart to other communities in the Kansas City Metro and what they're doing. Mark has already put that together um so it's easy for us to access and we could just do a sideby-side comparison during that work session and go over the details and make changes and then present again.

All right. Um having heard that we are in a public hearing so I should probably still go to the public or an A. And then afterwards when it kick kicks back up here then we could um consider a motion for approval, denial or t or table. So that's how how best we should handle that. So unless there's any more comments from anybody up here, I'm going to go to the audience. Okay. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in favor of this? Seeing and hearing none, is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak in opposition to this? Seeing and hearing none, I will close the public comment section of this public hearing. And um just one more ask if there's anything else from staff or commissioners. One question I have is that um is there a benefit or does tableabling benefit or a denial? Is there one better for the city? They don't have to wait a certain amount of time to come back.

Tabling till a date certain would be great. Okay. That's what we were working to propose a great date. You take a minute and uh let us know the date that would be best. Okay. March 9th, planning commission would be All right. Well, okay. Well, I will close the public hearing. And at this time, I would ask a motion for the UDC text. Motion to deny it. Oh, no. To table. I have [laughter] a motion to table to what date? March 9th. Correct. To the March 9th meeting. I have a motion. Second.

And a second. Tracy, please. Roll call. [snorts] Commissioner Kraov. Well, u I I have a question in terms of denying it or or tableling it. Can we vote whether we want to do either or or is it just that we're going to table it? Is that the is that the decision? The motion is to table. So you can choose to say I to table it or nay to not table it. Uh, I'm going to vote name. [clears throat] Commissioner Sanderson. Hi. Commissioner Smith.

Hi. Commissioner Stokenberry. Hi. Commissioner Pumprey. Hi. Commissioner Ingresol. Hi. Commissioner How? Hi. Chairperson Henning. I All right. This motion was tabled until the March 9th meeting and uh we'll go from there on that chair. Yes. Seek clarification 39. I don't have my calendar in front of me. Is that a separate meeting? It's a scheduled It's a scheduled planning meeting. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Next on the agenda is items number five and seven. I will open the public hearing for general development plan GDP12-25-9747 for Mcatee Meadows with the preliminary plat being heard concurrently. I will ask for exhibits from our city attorney James Newell. March I have to open it and then continue. I didn't this was continued to the 23rd. [clears throat] Yes, but I still have to open it, ask for exhibits, and then and then uh table. I didn't get a list of the exhibits. What's that?

I didn't get a list of the exhibits to enter. Well, nonetheless, the applicant is requested to continue these items to the Monday, March 23rd, 2026 planning commission meeting. So, do I have a motion to continue? Wait, I'm in a public hearing. Hang on here. Yeah, you leave it open. We're just setting a motion. Okay. Uh I'll accept a motion for continuence until March 23rd. Chair. Yes. Move to uh move GDP12259747 to uh the March 23rd 26 planning commission. Second it. Motion and a second. All those in favor? Any opposed? [clears throat]

All right. That that has been continued till the March 23rd, 2026 planning commission meeting. Continuing the public hearing. Next on the agenda item number six, [clears throat] public hearing is already open for the conditional use permit CU 0126-9781 for elicit tattoo. I will ask for exhibits from our city attorney. Um again, I don't have Sorry. Yes, we're ready for a motion. Chair move01269781 move to the February 23rd planning commission meeting. Second. Have a motion and a second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed?

That motion has been continued and I will close the public. Is there any other business at this time?

We did. Yep. Anything else? If not, I'll close the meeting. I will accept a motion to um end the adjourn the meeting. Second. I have a motion in a second. All those in favor? Any opposed? All right. Thank you all very much and good night.