Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

The Stillwater Planning Commission meeting of June 16 is called to order. It will be the process this evening to call for items on the agenda. The commission will hear briefly first from staff, then applicant and or representative, then open the public hearing and hear from those in favor and or opposition to the request. When you come to the podium, please clearly state your name and address for the record. Before closing the public hearing, both staff and applicant and or representative will be provided an opportunity to respond to provided additional information and answer questions. After all interested parties have spoken, the public hearing will be closed and we will hear closing remarks and alternatives from staff. First item on the agenda tonight will be to receive public comment regarding the application for short-term rental STR-0244 for the property addressed as 1112 West Newman Avenue in the Large Lot Single Family Residential Zoning District. First, we will hear from staff.

Yes, sir. Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Henry Beebleheimer with Development Services. Tonight we're here to talk about a short-term rental license application for 1112 West Newman Avenue. Some context before we jump into this presentation tonight. As I'm sure you guys are aware, the short-term rental text amendment was approved by City Council last night on the second read. That has not been implemented yet. That has 30 days before it's implemented. So these applications submitted before that implementation date are following under the rules as they have been up till now. What that means is when this license was submitted for an application, we sent out notices to everyone within 300 foot of the property. If we received any complaints, which both not complaints, objections, which both of the ones we have tonight, we have received objections on, then they were scheduled for public hearing, which is why we're before you tonight. So the planning commission can be the deciding body for those short-term rental licenses. So the first one we're looking at tonight is 1112 West Newman Avenue. Here's the aerial view with the property outlined in pink. This is just west of the northwest corner of Newman and Monroe. To kind of get your bearings on the top of the screen is airport and on the right side of the screen is Washington. As you can see, the existing use of this property is a single-family home. Here's the screenshot of the map that shows all of the existing short-term rental licenses in the area, which as we can see, there are none. I'm open to answer any questions if you have any.

So currently they would fill under the requirements for how many are within a block per the new rules that will come into effect in 30 days?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Sorry, is that better? Sorry, guys. So currently there are no short-term rentals, so they would fall under the requirements that will come into effect in 30 days as being approved. Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. Any other questions for staff? Thank you. At this time, we will open the public hearing. We have a lot of citizens present tonight who want to speak, so please make sure everyone gets a chance to be heard. Here are some rules for tonight's hearing. Each speaker will get one turn at the podium. Please limit your speaking time to five minutes or less. Please try not to repeat previous speakers have said. If you have something to add to a previous point, please do so. However, merely repeating the same thing over and over does not advance the dialogue and takes time away from other speakers who might have something new to say. No clapping, cheering, or booing in response to a speaker's comments. Be respectful of others' viewpoints. Persons creating outbursts can be removed from the hearing. When you step up to the podium, please state your name and address for the record. Before beginning your comments, We're making both a written and video recording of this proceeding. Did you have something else to add?

Yes, sir. I just forgot to mention that the applicant is also present and available.

Okay, perfect. So before that, let's have the applicant come up and please state your name and address for the record.

Hello, my name is Valerie Shoup and we live at 1112 West Newman Avenue in Stillwater, Oklahoma. My husband and I went to Oklahoma State and we've been here, been married for 40 years and we got married in Stillwater, Oklahoma 40 years ago. And so for our 40th anniversary, we decided we would buy a home in Stillwater so that we could be closer to family and friends who live in Oklahoma City in Tulsa. So we purchased the property on April 14th, and we have moved into the property and have spent quite a bit of time upgrading and upgrading the lights and fixtures and cleaning up the landscaping as it was kind of let go before we moved in so it's a really nice house and a really nice neighborhood and we are much like our neighbors of approximately the same age group and what the reason we chose that neighborhood is it is quieter It is a quiet neighborhood and we like that. We like a nice quiet neighborhood. We like going to bed early. We go to bed at 10 o'clock and so we wanted to be in a quiet neighborhood. Now in regard to the short-term rental, we decided because we travel a lot, we have family all over the country and We have another home in Dallas and a lake house and we travel a lot that we wanted to give back to this Stillwater community. As you can imagine when kids go to college they check into their dorm room and a lot of them it's the first time they have moved away from their parents. So we're actually also on the Oklahoma State Forum and we've seen a lot from parents who try to get places to stay here in Stillwater so they can visit with their children and there aren't really good places, a lot of good places to stay or they fill up and they're very expensive. So my husband and I wanted to give back to the community and we decided we would apply for a short-term rental so that some of these folks who have kids can come stay in our home, they can cook meals for their kids, sit around the dining room table, play games with the kids, and we think it's good for the parents, it's good for the students, and it's good for Stillwater. And we really like the neighborhood because, I mean, many of these kids probably live in homes just like the one we purchased. in Stillwater and we intentionally did not move into a neighborhood where it's close to the bars and such because we didn't want we didn't want to be disrupted by the noise that Typically takes place in neighborhoods that are close to the bars where there are a lot of students so we we chose that neighborhood so it would be a quiet neighborhood and And we just want other parents to be able to visit with their kids and have a nice place to stay. And so that's why we're applying for a short-term rental. Of course, we're going to be there a lot of the time ourselves. We've been there probably at least since we bought it at least three full weeks. and so we'll be coming and going but also if other parents we have friends also who like to go to games so we may have friends staying at the house when we're not there so we just wanted to be sure we're following all the rules in the city of Stillwater so we applied for a short-term rental now I did read a lot of the comments from the neighbors and some of them are concerned about security and like I said earlier, our demographics, the type of people we want to stay in our home or we would allow to stay in our home are parents with kids, right? Parents whose kids go to Oklahoma State. And so when we post our property, we will be screening every single person that comes in. So a lot of them may just be our friends, but people that we don't know personally, we'll be screening them to be sure that if they're on the Airbnb website that they have a 4.8 rating minimum. We also have implemented quiet hours of 10 p.m. that everything should be quiet. We have a two-car garage, which is empty, so people can put their cars in the garage or in the driveway. And we certainly don't ever, ever park in the street ourselves. So we don't believe that parking would be an issue. three bedrooms, okay, so two queens and one king, so I would imagine the maximum occupancy would be six people, and that house can certainly handle six people, so let's see, I think, oh, and they were concerned about noise, and like I said, we have quiet hours after 10 p.m., but honestly, I mean, my husband and I don't make a lot of noise, and the type of people that we're going to have staying there, I can't imagine them making a lot of noise. I mean, it's not going to be a party house or something like that. It's going to be parents of kids who go to Oklahoma State.

Will you be implementing a no-party policy specifically?

Yes, so I actually brought this notebook, and anybody's welcome to go through it, but we have no party policy, no drugs, no alcohol, and all of that. And I also wanted to mention one thing. When I applied for this permit, I also wrote a letter to every single one of my neighbors and invited them over to an open house so they could get to know me. And I told them about who we are. And I didn't have one single neighbor call in opposition. I actually had two neighbors who called and said, hey, we'd love our family to stay at your house when you're not there. And I said, that'd be great. I'd love for you guys to be able to do that. So of the 14 people within 300 feet, I mean, six of the houses, there was no letters of opposition. Any questions?

Commissioners, any questions for the applicant?

Do you have any idea about how often you'll stay there, percentage-wise? I mean, I know it's tough to predict the future, but do you have a thought about that?

I guess if I was guessing, it would be at least one week every month.

I don't know if I understood that. This is your primary residence, correct?

No, we actually are homesteaded in Dallas. I have a daughter who lives in Dallas.

Okay.

Another one in California, another one in Australia. So we travel a lot. Like next month, we're going to be in Australia with my daughter. Her son's getting married, so we're going to Australia for a month.

So you think you'll be living there roughly one week out of the month, and then you intend to rent it out the remainder of the time?

That's correct.

Okay. Are you going to have a minimum night stay implemented?

Yes, we have a two-night minimum stay implemented. Okay.

You might have mentioned this. Do you have any other properties that you rent short-term?

No, we did. We were renting out our lake house, but then we found we went there so often and were a member of the country club out there that we decided not to rent it out anymore. But we have rented out a house before, so we know what it's all about. And for the most part, we had really good people, nice people coming in, so it was never a problem. And also at our lake house, there are several short-term rentals and we have no problem with any of the people who come and go out of our neighborhood.

Being in Dallas, when you're not here, who's going to be taking care of the rental?

OK, so when we're not here, we have a property manager. Her name's Nessa Zander. She's also our real estate agent. We have a contract with a mowing company to come and mow on the regular. We have a housekeeper who's going to come after every rental and check on the property. If someone was there a week or longer, she would come every week.

And then will residents have or guests have her contact information for in case of emergency and her be able to respond 24 hours a day?

Yes, and they also will have my contact information, as do all the neighbors have my cell phone. So every single neighbor has my cell phone and can call me anytime.

You mentioned it was geared towards parents. Do you have an age restriction, like over 35?

We have written in our policy you have to be over 28. Because we're really looking for parents who want to spend time with their kids. That's a demographic we want to rent to.

Commissioners, any other questions?

You do plan to use, like, Airbnb? Is that your primary?

We plan to use Airbnb just because I know that they pay the city of Stillwater taxes. I don't think VRBO does, and I'd rather have someone who handles all the taxes for us, so we were going to use Airbnb. Okay.

Commissioners? Good. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Do I need to redo... Okay, so sorry about that. I got a little ahead of myself. Now we're going to open the public hearing. Am I good on this? Okay, perfect. First, I'm going to ask anyone that would like to speak in favor of this item to please come forward.

My name is Nessa Zanders, and I'm a broker of Zanders & Company Real Estate. I sold Valerie and Clay their home, and it was a fabulous home. Still is. They've invested over $20-something thousand dollars just in upgrades, and I think it'll be a perfect Airbnb. I have no doubt that she'll take care of, if there is even any issue, Will be the one to manage the property and also help with screening again short-term rentals we strive for those guest reviews and We will screen everybody to the best we can at least a 4.8 so another thing I read in the review and the objections was a security safety issue, and she has a ring doorbell. She will have a camera on the back side of the house, and all neighbors will be able to get a hold of either her or me at any time. So I'm just a call away. I will be going over there between guest stays and checking on the property itself, the exterior, the yard, the landscaping, and the interior to make sure of things properly taken care of. Do you have any questions?

Thank you.

OK, thank you.

Anyone else that would like to speak in favor of this item?

Clay Shoup, I'm the owner of the house. I'd like to add a couple comments. One of the things that really got us, I've registered seriously and retired, so we got season tickets. My brother's had season tickets at the Cowboys football games for probably 15, 20 years. So we bought season tickets this year, and we wanted to come to more games and stuff like that. And the challenge we always have coming from Dallas and what we've seen from other parents coming from Dallas is the drive is very long. And if you don't have a place to stay and, you know, here, then you're either driving back to Oklahoma City and it's, you know, you're rushing up here and rushing back and trying to get back. So being able to stay several days. So we, not just football games, we like the basketball games, the baseball and the softball and everything else. So that's a big motivation for us and where we would be coming up more often is to be able to attend some of the sporting events and special events there in town. So the other thing about Anissa is that she lives very close, I don't know, we said maybe a mile as a crow flies. So her being able to just drop by and look at it while she's doing her other work and reels her work would be very convenient. it won't be like she's having to drive across town. Okay.

Thank you. Anyone else in favor of this item? Seeing none, I'll ask for anyone in opposition. I do have a list. So I'm going to start off with Laura Caplera. I apologize. I'm so sorry. Please come in. Correct me with how to do that and also state your address for the record.

My name is Laura Kaplan. I'm actually at 1123 West Hillcrest. So not directly near them. My concern is mainly just traffic. Kids, I mean, people drive through that intersection a lot really quickly. And we have kids. I have kids. They run up and down the street and play with each other. And so that is kind of my concern is mostly just the traffic and traffic. People just not realizing that they should yield there or stop for other cars or just watch for the kids. That's kind of my only concern, really.

Thank you. Next up, I have Jen Tinnen. Guys, I'm sorry if I... No, you said it right. Okay.

Hi, I'm Jem Tenen. I live at 1112 West Hillcrest Avenue. I'm actually on the corner. I was not in part of the message that got sent out because it says my property does not sit within 300 feet of the house. My driveway does. My driveway backs onto the road that everyone will be traveling on. I have three young children that run up and down the street. My main concern is the safety. We just moved here seven years ago. My husband is military retired. He has PTSD. I want to make sure that we have the best neighborhood we can for safety, noise concerns, for him as a military veteran, because my biggest thing is my husband seeing someone driving reckless. And I'm sorry, all of us have seen people at the football games. They might not have alcohol being allowed their place but they can go out and have alcohol and they come in here and driving recklessly or not paying attention my thing is my husband I don't want to have him have any issues because he is very protective of my children we sit between two parks we sit between Sanborn and Boomer so we do have a lot of people going around my kids are on bikes and that intersection right there it's dead-end streets but people do not drive like it is a dead-end street And we have the post office, UPS, FedEx, we have made complaints to them about this issue because there is not a stop sign on that street, on that corner. I am the corner lot. They go over it. We had someone hit the side of the curb. And my main concern is people driving because there is only one way in and one way out of both those streets back there which are dead ends. Our community is very tight knit. I know everyone. The only reason I knew anything about this was because I am friends with 90 of people back there and i'm a stay-at-home mom with three young kids so i see everything that goes on back there and that's my biggest concern thank you next up will be catherine the catherine v good evening um

I'm Catherine Vijay Kumar. My only concern is about, you know, how good they... Oh, sorry. Okay, I live at 3423 North Monroe, and I lived in that house for over 25 years. And I've been enjoying this part of this neighborhood, which has been very quiet and, you know, owned by house owners and they have families and lots of children, as they mentioned. And I have real, you know, big concern about that. Because having any increase of, you know, vehicles coming and parking over there, you know, it may be an issue. And the other one is when it is on an Airbnb, I don't know how well you can get those people vetted, you know, because we don't know who is going to come and they're going to be there only for a short time. And it will be difficult for us to know who is coming and, you know. So there is some skeptical about this sense of security. And this neighborhood has been very quiet and safe for all of us, for both young and old. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up will be... Goodness. I'm next door to the house that's being talked about.

And the literature itself tells you the story in the large lot single family resident zoning district. I've lived there 25 years. I've known all my neighbors all around me. I can't imagine living there and people coming and going. And you have no idea who they are, where they came from, what they're going to do. It's beyond me. I'm just an old farm boy. Common sense don't even make sense here. So thank you.

Carolyn. G. 1115 G and G at 1115 West Newman.

Thank you for allowing us to address the commission this evening. Although I admire the philanthropic idea of helping college students' parents be able to attend football games, there are also others of us that are philanthropic to the university. And I might add, my husband and I are both Heritage Club members and proud and immortal members of OSU, which means we've given over a million dollars to OSU. We bought our home and had it custom made in 1996. Most of my neighbors have been in our neighborhood for at least 25 to 35 years. It's an established neighborhood with only one way to get in and out. You have to come in through Brown Avenue, then go north on Monroe and dogleg back to Newman. I noticed on your map it says it's public access to the west. Actually, that's incorrect. Kevin Reeder owns part of that land, and our neighbor Chin Chin owns part of that access to the west. There's a small strip in there that is not public. I am concerned about people coming and going. As was stated earlier, we do have a lot of small children as you come in from Brown Avenue and turn onto Monroe. We are very cognizant of that. We want to protect our neighborhood. Also, the number of people coming and going would be, I think, somewhat of a detriment to the neighborhood. We purposely bought our homes where they are because we knew that it had limited access and we would not have a lot of traffic coming up and down. In fact, we are so conscious even of taking care of our neighborhood that we put all of our trash receptacles on one side of the street so that the trash track doesn't have to make two trips up and down to damage the pavement. So in saying all of this, I would like you to carefully consider that we're talking about people who have been there forever. I plan to be there until they carry me out in a pine box. And I hope that you would respect the wishes of our community that we do have these concerns and that we would like to keep our neighborhood as is. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, I have 1115 West Newman, L, Ed.

Hi, I'm Ed Noltensmeyer, 1115 West Newman Avenue. We moved in 30 years ago. And that's my wife. The same things are, you know, we are concerned about the traffic because people that are Airbnb aren't always cognizant of children in the neighborhood, people playing. So that's the main thing. And the other thing is, with the trash cans out, we do good on one side. There's two reasons for that. One is so that the trash truck doesn't have to go up and down twice. And the other one is... We're trying to make sure that any fire department engine or the trash truck going through has plenty of room. So that's that's our concerns.

Thank you. Next up I have Lori and Chris Ryan.

Hello, I'm Chris Ryan. I live at 1114 West Newman. And I have a lot of the same feelings as everyone else. I've moved there for 20 years now. I've lived there and every one of my neighbors has been the same for 20 years. We've only had one change. So we like living in a neighborhood where we all know each other. We don't want to see a new person every day that I don't know how well they read it. Yeah, you can vet them and you can read the paperwork and it says what they are. But Ted Bundy would probably vet pretty good on a piece of paper. But once he's there, it's a little different. And so we don't want that kind of opportunity for someone like that to move in the neighborhood. And uneven the parking. Yes, they have a driveway. Extra cars could be there. But as it is, the mornings now, my wife goes to the gym at 4.30 every morning. We have cars in our driveway. It takes her five minutes to get backed out because she has to go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to get out. Just one more car is going to make it worse. Two more cars is going to make it worse. So... We don't know how many people are going to come in those groups. So just safety. I know everyone's children live in the neighborhood. parent that lives in the neighborhood. And we're all Oklahoma State Ties graduates. I went to Oklahoma State. My wife graduated from Oklahoma State. My dad went to Oklahoma State. My mom went to Oklahoma State. My brother went to Oklahoma State. We all have ties to Oklahoma State. That doesn't make it any different. We live in Stillwater, so we probably had something to do with Oklahoma State. So just for the safety of the neighborhood, the travel of the neighborhood, the cleanliness of the neighborhood, We just appreciate that second thought or whether this would be allowed. Thank you.

That's everyone that I had listed down on the sign up sheet. Is there anyone else that would like to come forward and speak in opposition? Yeah, no, please.

I'm Lori Ryan.

I live at 1114 West Newven with Chris. And actually, we've been there for 23 years. And that was our first. Actually, we lived in 1116. And that's how much we love this neighborhood. I'm just saying, that was our first home, 1116. And we loved it so much that when our neighbor that we live in, 1114, moved, She came to me and said, hey, I know you need a bigger house because we had just had a baby boy and we worked out a deal. And then ironically, this is how close I'm just showing you how close knit we are. Ironically, then I talked to Mr. Reeder, who's at one one, that'd be 18. Hey, what do you think? This is a good deal because Chris and I are a young couple. And he said, yeah. And then he came to the next day and says, we'll buy your house. So he literally said, I'm just trying to reenact how close-knit this neighborhood is. I just want to make sure you know the connections and how we are very nervous about people coming and going because we are, I mean, I've known Carolyn and Ed. I've known, like I said, that one house next to them used to be Betsy and Dave. They've moved, but that's only been one other person in the 23 years that's lived in that house, and that would be across from 1118. Like I said, Dan and Janet aren't here right now, but they've lived almost probably, say, 20 years from there. I mean, Carolyn and Ed's right. We are a close-knit group, and so we are very, very concerned of people coming and going. I mean, very concerned. I get it they're going to live there one week out of the month, but those three weeks, what does that entail? Does that make sense? What does that entail for us, people coming and going? And you don't know. You don't know. You get these applications, but you don't know really who these people are. I mean, right? So, like I said, we've lived in two houses in 23 years, and that's how wonderful. We love our neighbors, how close-knit we are. You know, we definitely give our privacy to each other, but we also, we come together when something like this happens. And I am very welcoming. I love to see... them retire here i would love that i'd love to get to know them but what makes us nervous is these this uncertainty of people coming and going until they do come retire because i don't i mean i don't know when they'll officially retire and stay that could be many years down the road um we do have young kids too as well so uh um we try to keep you know keep it quiet my kids know that we've grown up on that street And then another concern is, you know, once again, we love our neighbors, and they're getting older. They're getting older. And so we've had had some ambulance called. You know, luckily everything's worked out well. Everyone's healthy and well. But, you know, that could, as people get older, happen more and more often. We've been very fortunate. My son just started driving at 16 and we were very like, oh no, where are we going to park his car? Because of the traffic and the trash cans coming. And one of my neighbors, Carol, and I'll say Carol and Ed, they are gracious enough to say, hey Lori, we would love to have Gavin, our son, parked in front of our house. And I went, really? And they said, absolutely, because they are very concerned about the ambulance coming down. And that's, once again, I just want to reiterate how close-knit we are, how we look after each other, just like the trash cans. We have this system, you know what I'm saying, like that. We've done that for years. This happened years before the other person that had Stacey own their house. I mean, just say we communicate well, and I think that's our biggest concern is having people come and go. And I want to hope that they're going to vet them and make sure that good people are there. But once again, I don't go as far as my husband saying, but you never know who's on paper, you know what I'm saying, who's coming to the stand. That's our biggest concern, you know what I'm saying? And then the traffic, yeah, because the ambulance, you know, like I said, we do have some older couples, and they do need an ambulance every once in a while to come, and we need to make sure. And that's the whole reason why they had me have Gavin, my son, park on their side, which was so wonderful. When she called and told me that Gavin could park in front of her house, I went, that would be awesome, you know, like that. I mean, I was just very thankful because I was worried that we were going to get in other people's ways with another car. So...

Anyways, that's all I wanted to say.

I hope you consider that and just realize how long this neighborhood has been peaceful and quiet. I'd love for people to come and retire there, but I don't know about having people come and go always. Because you know how long they're going to stay or what they are. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll ask if there's anyone else who would like to speak in opposition. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and invite the applicant to come back and answer some questions. So some of the concerns that I've heard here are traffic, parking, trash, and general impact on the neighborhood are some of the biggest. What are you able to do? What are you willing to do? You have two parking spots in the garage, correct? Yes. And then how many in the driveway?

So we have two parking spots in the garage and two in the driveway. And when we come, we keep our cars in the garage. So we have never caused any parking issues on our street.

Okay. So would you be willing to put car limits for your guests at four?

Absolutely. And I would kind of doubt there would even be four because there's like three bedrooms. I would, you know, I would think of parents and their kids, maybe their kid's friend came with them, you know, maybe three cars would probably be the most that would ever even be there.

And then will your guests be responsible for taking out the trash, or will your property manager be responsible for taking out the trash?

So the guests, we have asked in our requirements, we have asked the guests to take out the trash. But what I did want to tell you, since you did bring up Dan and Janet Graham, they live right across the street from us. And Dan has rolled in and out our trash Ever since we moved in, he's also collected our mail. I've brought them over food because his wife is ill. And anytime I've had somebody at my house, like we had a window guy, I would text Dan and let him know, hey, we've got a window guy coming. So if you see somebody around the house, that's who it is. Or, oh, our housekeeper's coming today. Or, oh, the yard guy's coming. coming today. So I am actively with our neighbor across the street in contact all the time. And then our neighbor Catty Corner, she's real nice too. She has three boys and when the boys is coming over tomorrow to pull our weeds, I'm paying him to weed our garden. So we are very cognizant of being good neighbors and being part of the neighborhood and we would never do anything to disrupt the neighborhood. In fact, one of the first things in my book is I say, hey, this property has older folks in the neighborhood. It's a quiet neighborhood, and we only want people to stay here who will respect the neighborhood. Because I totally get it. I don't like noise either. I like a really quiet neighborhood, and that's why we picked this one.

so you will have somebody that can what i'm getting at i guess is somebody that will be able to abide by how they want all the trash cans pulled to one specific side the more concern is that they put it on one side of the street but that you put about thursday and you don't want to be left for a week at a time because then it that it narrows the street so the the neighbor across trade is offered to they take it out and bring it out so it doesn't sit out there for four or five days thank you

You said that you have that in your book talking about the neighborhood. Do you guys send out when you have new residents coming in, do you send out any type of welcome text message that goes to them? Hey, we're excited to have you guys staying here. Here's some basic information as to get into the house.

Yes. So everybody who would potentially stay, when they get the whole welcome manual with the house rules and all of that, and they have information on how to get into the house, and they have our phone numbers and all that.

So within that, you could add, hey, this is a family neighborhood. There are kids that are going to be here running around, riding their bikes in the street. Please remember that please be cognizant. Please be careful when you're driving and coming in and out of the neighborhood You can add that into that communication with your guests as well.

Yes. Yes, we can but quite honestly, I mean I'm not saying they're not there but we have never seen any kids on bikes in the neighborhood most the kids we have seen are teenagers or Driving teenagers. It's mostly what we've seen but there may be kids and they're just stay home or whatever Commissioners any other questions?

Yeah, we talked a little bit about it, but traffic was a big concern. So you could, I mean, we talked about garage parking and driveway parking, but I believe you could put a provision in there that there's just no street parking allowed.

We can do that. We're happy to do that.

Okay, I had another question for you. So you're just roughly there a week out of the month. What's your goal for the other three weeks?

Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say.

What do you hope happens?

Like... I, you know, honestly, I'd be glad if somebody came to stay on the weekend. I'm thinking people probably won't come that often. I think it's going to rarely be used to be quite honest because I think most people who come to Stillwater to party are going to stay at the Airbnbs downtown, you know, or the one bedrooms or whatever. I would expect if anybody comes, it's going to be during the school year mostly.

Well, I'm trying to get an idea of how often you want it rented. And so my next question was going to be, what are you going to price it at? Because that's going to tell how much you want it rented.

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, you know, we're really thinking some of the sporting events and things like that or the activities that are special around here. We don't really, when the hotels are, the problem when you come out of Dallas or somewhere else is if there's any events around here, the hotels are booked up. six months, eight months before you get here. So it's very difficult to get a place to stay. That's what we've observed. Stillwater, our OSU, recruits heavily in Dallas and Houston in these areas because of the good students they get out of the school systems down there. So there's a lot of parents that are driving up here, and they need a place to stay, and they're looking for something that they can do. So it might be parents weekend. It might be something like that. But when the hotels are $100 a night, then we're not looking to rent it because the cost is not worth it for $100 a night for the Airbnb, even if you multiply that times three.

Yeah.

Right. So we're looking just at the special events when the hotels are for $400 at the Holiday Inn Express, you know, and you got three families, that's $1,200, or you need three beds, that's $1,200. So we're just trying to give a price range that makes sense.

Gotcha.

Does that answer the question?

Yeah. You did confuse me when you said good students. I thought you meant good football players probably, but...

Well, there's some of that too, but there's a lot of those parents. Well, we actually see a lot of students. I have a friend right now who's a student in the aeronautics that's getting his pilot's license.

Actually, I grew up in North Dallas, so I can relate. So I came to school here. I have another question, but I lost my train of thought. So somebody else come up with something.

Thank you, guys. I'll now ask staff to come and present. I closed the public hearing prior to the applicants coming back up. I'll ask staff to present alternatives, findings and alternatives.

Yes, sir. So the factors are considered tonight. We went ahead and pulled this from code, which is just that the effects of the proposed use upon the character of the neighborhood traffic conditions, public utilities, drainage and other matters related to the general welfare may be considered. Your alternatives tonight are to approve, deny or defer the application.

Question for staff. Based off of the new code that city council voted on last night that will be implemented within 30 days, does this fit within those criteria to...

I haven't reviewed this against those criteria. I would have to look at all of the... There were a lot of application requirements that were incorporated with that new code, and I don't know if all of those have been included or not.

So if anyone that's approved now already are going to have to reapply with the new code?

Yes, sir. And when they reapply for that renewal, they would meet all of those requirements.

But that wouldn't happen until next year? Yes, sir. Correct.

And like I said, I'm not saying they didn't meet the requirements. I just haven't reviewed it.

But you're also saying it did not. We know that it met the requirements for the block capacity, for sure, because there were no others within that block. Yes, sir. Commissioners, any thoughts, other questions for staff? I have a question for council. What stipulations can I put on this?

So you can approve it with conditions like you were...

Such as the conditions discussed, the trash, the parking, and the really wanting some statements made to any guests that are coming regarding the neighborhood?

Yes, I believe so. Okay.

Quiet hours she already has in there, but we could add that as well. From everything I'm seeing, this does fit the criteria that the city has decided to move forward with on Airbnbs, short-term rentals. And I do find that I prefer ones where homeowners live there at least some portion of the time. They're going to be spending time there, not just renting it out 100% of the time. That gives them more incentive to take care of the house and gives them more incentive to have good renters in there.

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't know how long I've been on the commission, but there's a lot of short-term rentals that come up, and they're always the most challenging, controversial thing. And even over that time period, I don't think I've seen a broader gap between Really an ideal situation where somebody's prepared and answered the right questions even things like the 28 Age minimum people usually say 25 or 21. So you're looking for a more mature Person to stay there you guys live there part of the time like Commissioner mentioned But at the other end of the spectrum, I've never seen a more coordinated neighborhood response to someone coming so it's really challenge because you know as you as you buy property you have certain rights and things you want to do and you've invested there but you guys have invested in your neighborhood and in each other so it's it's very this one's really hard I think and I would probably personally come down on the side of granting it because I just feel like people that invest have rights to do things as long as they're within the code of the city and do reasonable things to try and protect their neighbors. And I would say that as a participant on Airbnbs and VRBOs for quite some time, i think a lot of the concerns they're not it's not that they're not legitimate it's just that they they get overblown such as traffic yes it's different people that come into the neighborhood but the likelihood is it's maybe two weekends a month that there's somebody else there and they come and go a few times it's not like somebody moves moves out on tuesday they clean it somebody moves in on wednesday and they move it on friday it just doesn't typically work that way i mean if you're an airbnb owner You know, you'd love that to happen, probably, but that's just not the reality of the situation. So I'm not saying that your concerns are not valid. I just think they're maybe not as drastic as you might make them out to be. So that's kind of where I land.

I think Commissioner Prather expressed our thoughts rather well. I think we've generally been very empathetic to the concerns of the neighborhood. On the opposite side of the coin, so to speak, oftentimes we see neighbors expressing the worst case scenarios. I think the applicants have done very good due diligence how to keep the worst case scenarios from happening. So I think I lean toward approving this also.

I appreciate the neighbors coming out and sharing this information with us. I would encourage, no matter what the vote is, for everyone to work together. You know, change is sometimes difficult, especially if we don't have an option. And so if they can all work together to make this the best situation possible, I think it would be helpful.

I'm in agreeance with my fellow commissioners here. And I do think that this short-term rental meets the general criteria that we have consistently looked at for short-term rentals in Stillwater. So I would motion to approve it with the conditions that they put in a car maximum of four that they have notes for their guests regarding the neighborhood and the community and being safe within it and respectful of the neighbors and that they accommodate the neighbors requests pertaining to the trash no parking on the street no parking on the street Second the motion. We have a motion and a second. We shall vote. Motion passes 4-0. The next item on the agenda will be to receive public comment regarding an application for short-term rental STR-0245. The property is addressed 1807 East Ridgecrest Avenue in Small Lot Single Family Residential Zoning District. We shall hear from staff.

Yes, sir. So same spiel from last time on short-term rental license application and how we got here. This application is for 1807 East Ridgecrest Avenue. Here's an aerial view of the property outlined in pink. This is just east of the southeast corner of Carnley and Ridgecrest, which is just east of Stillwater Junior High over on Skyline. Here's a screenshot of the approved short-term rental licenses in the area. As we can see from these dots, there are a few in the neighborhood, although there are not any on this block. I'm open to answer any questions if you have any. And the applicant is not present. It's only you.

Missions good. Thank you. We'll open it for the applicant. However, the applicant is not here. He they did leave us with a letter commissioners were able to review perfect from there. I'm going to move on to the public hearing. So we will open the public hearing and ask if we have anyone in favor of this item. Seeing none, I will ask if there's any opposed to this item. Seeing none, we will close the public hearing and ask staff to come back and present alternatives.

Yes, sir. So the factors to consider are the same as last time. I'll summarize. The character of the neighborhood, traffic conditions, public utilities, drainage, and other matters related to the general welfare may be considered. Your alternatives tonight are to approve, deny, or defer the application.

Question for staff, was this one, I might have just missed it in your first presentation, were there any other short-term rentals within this block?

No, sir. There were a few within the neighborhood, but not within this block.

Okay, so it does still fit that criteria as well. Yes, sir. Perfect.

Now, do I understand that the applicant had another short-term rental in the area? Did I misread that?

I didn't read the letter that was sent in so it could have been in that, but I'm not sure.

It says we also manage another their other property on adjacent block which is already permitted as a short-term rental so adjacent block. So yes, it could be a letter from the broker.

Yeah, not the applicant was managing.

And it is right now is there meant that meant the property management is managing another short-term rental for them on the adjacent block in that area and and we do have these 3 right now that are licensed. Commissioners, discussion?

You don't have to open for public and all that stuff.

I've already opened and closed it.

Oh, yeah. I missed that. I'd make a motion to approve this short-term rental application.

Second.

The motion is second. We'll show vote. Motion passes 4-0. Next item on the agenda will be the regular meeting summary of June 2, 2026. Commissioners, any discussion? I do have some corrections to make, but I'll let you guys go first.

Do you have anything?

All right. Then corrections I have here are under item number one, Chair Phillips will be stricken out and Vice Chair Williams will be added as called the meeting to order at 5.30 p.m. On page two, it says Vice Chair Williams closes public hearing and asks for findings and alternatives. The closes public hearing and will be stricken out, so it will read Vice Chair Williams asks for findings and alternatives. And on page 3, under Vice Chair Williams asked if the applicant to confirm the structures would be single family rental properties. The if will be stricken out. Changing it to Vice Chair Williams asked the applicant to confirm the structures would be single family rental properties. If there are no other corrections, I would motion to approve the minutes with the stated corrections.

Second.

Motion in a second. Motion passes 4-0. Last item on the agenda will be miscellaneous items from staff, planning commissioners, or city attorney for discussion and possible action. Only thing listed is that the next regular meeting is July 7th, 2026. No one has anything else? Last item on the agenda will be adjournment. Move to adjourn. I have a motion. Second. And a second. We shall vote. Motion passes 4-0. We stand adjourned.