Lake Ozark P&Z Recommends Lifting The Ban On Short-Term Vacation Rentals

LAKE OZARK, Mo. — Lake Ozark homeowners may soon be allowed to rent their homes to vacationers.

The Lake Ozark Planning and Zoning Commission approved recommending the City Board of Aldermen rescind a ban on short- term vacation rentals in Residential 1 and Residential 2 single family zoning in the city. The P&Z commission made the recommendation at their Wednesday, Dec. 6 meeting at Lake Ozark City Hall.

The recommendation passed five-to-two. Chairman Margaret Davis and Commissioner Mike Kolar were the two no votes. Commissioner Mike Otten attended the meeting via Zoom. Currently, nightly rentals are prohibited in R-1 and R-2 single-family residential areas. The recommendation will next go before the Lake Ozark Board of Aldermen for their consideration at the Tuesday, Dec. 13 board meeting, which will take place at 6 p.m., at City Hall.

Standing Room Only

Approximately 75 citizens and seven staff attended the meeting. “This is the most I have seen at a planning and zoning commission meeting in the six years I have been here,” Planning and Zoning Commissioner Rick Hasty said.

Citizens Address The Lake Ozark Planning & Zoning Commission — photo by Janet Dabbs

While many in the room raised their hand when asked if they had ever stayed in a short-term rental, opinions on whether that kind of rental scenario belongs in Lake Ozark were heated on both sides. According to Mayor Dennis Newberry, Lake Ozark is the only city at the Lake of the Ozarks that does not allow short-term rentals.

Several citizens said short-term rentals were the “thing of the future and Lake Ozark needed to get with the program.” Lake of Ozarks Real Estate Professional Stacy Shore, who represented investors in the city who live elsewhere, said, “This is nothing new. People have been renting their homes to vacationers since the 1950s.”

Before the recommendation to rescind the ban was approved, Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Margaret Davis made a motion to put the question on the ballot to allow the citizens of Lake Ozark to decide. “We need development to grow, but this is not the way,” Davis said. “I am against this. The citizens have spoken.” However, City Attorney Christopher Rohrer advised the city did not have anything in the code that would allow them to place such a question on a ballot. “The motion is not appropriate,” Rohrer said.

The opposition

During the open forum, citizens voiced the following points in opposition to lifting the ban on short-term vacation rentals:

• They will lower property values

• Will increase in traffic on already congested roads

• They will cause parking and traffic issues

• Increase noise, trash, crime, parties, and boats

• Properties would be run down because renters do not care

• Decreased safety

• They purchased their home for the beauty and serenity in the area, and this will ruin their investment and quality of life

• This will stress an already inadequate police force

• The police will not be able to enforce infractions

• The city cannot collect taxes on short term rentals, they have no authority to collect fees, so there is no way for the city to benefit

• Many of the short-term rental owners are not residents of Lake Ozark

• A suggestion to place the question on the ballot for citizens to decide was met with applause

• One citizen interpreted a short-term rental as a business because “the definition of commerce is making a profit from a commercial service and if the ban was lifted, a homeowner could use their residential property for any commercial use.”

Citizen opposition comments included:

“We will see you at the voting booth and we will remember how you ruined our quality of life.” (With most of the attendees responding in thunderous applause.)

Lake Ozark resident Scott Barnes suggested grounds for a lawsuit if the ban were lifted because Mayor Dennis Newberry having a real estate license was a “conflict of interest.”

Comments for lifting the ban on short-term vacation rentals:

• There are not enough hotels in the city

• Will increase tourism

• The city is run on sales tax and the rentals would increase sales tax through increased business revenue

• Investors will purchase property they can use to generate rental income

• Investors will keep their properties maintained because that is how they will continue to generate rental income

• When investors purchase and maintain their property it will increase development, business, and employment in the city

• This is not a bedroom community, it is a resort community

• People will sue the city for not allowing them to generate rental income

• If people break city ordinances, then fine them. The fines will increase with each subsequent infraction

Homeowners Associations

Lake Ozark business owner Andy Prewitt suggested the answer for citizens who do not want short-term rentals in their neighborhoods could be to form a homeowner’s association to regulate what happens in their neighborhood. “There are already more than 30 short-term rental properties in the city limits, and they are not being policed correctly,” Prewitt added. “This could open the city for liability due to enforcement for some households, and not for others.” Mayor Newberry offered to assist anyone who needed help with forming a neighborhood homeowner’s association.

Sheltering Investments

Proponents of lifting the ban stated property owners have sheltered their investment in residential properties by renting them out during hard times, such as during sickness, death, or loss of employment, citing many did not lose their homes during the economic downturn in 2008 because they were able to rent their homes for a season.

There was discussion about a LakeExpo.com reader poll and a survey of the Bagnell Dam Lake of the Ozarks Realtor Association. See the poll and survey here:

READER POLL

Should vacation rentals be legalized in Lake Ozark?

Poll: Most Lake Ozark Realtors Say Vacation Rentals Should Be Legal, Won't Hurt Property Value

LAKE OZARK, Mo. — A poll of Lake area real estate professionals shows the vast majority thin…

A Constitutional Right – 4th and 5th Amendment

Lake Ozark Mayor Dennis Newberry commented, “I believe the city took away the constitutional rights of residential property owners with this ban.” However several citizens stated their constitutional rights would be taken away if short-term rentals were approved.

Newberry reported the Osage Beach mayor, administrator, city planner, and police chief report they have few problems with short-term vacation rentals. The city of Osage Beach reported approximately six short-term rental disturbance calls in 2022.

“I do not think short-term rentals will cause mayhem and the end of the world,” Lake Ozark Police Chief Gary Launderville said. However, he did agree parking could be a traffic and safety issue.

Shore added that the city had no right to ban the use of someone’s private property when it is being used strictly for residential purposes, defining residential use as cooking in a kitchen, sleeping, and entertaining family and friends etc.

Shore then presented examples of multiple lawsuits which protected private property owners across the country by striking down short-term rental bans, citing the fifth and fourteenth amendments of the United State Constitution. She quoted George Washington saying, “Freedom and Property rights are inseparable. You cannot have one without the other.”

It was reported the Porto Cima Homeowner’s Association lost their lawsuit to prevent short-term rentals because it was found they are not considered a commercial use.

Gail Griswold, owner of Shawnee Bluff Winery, spoke in favor of short-term rentals: “The city took my parents to court on an overnight rental case. The city retracted the case before it went to appellate court. Missouri laws are protective of our constitutional rights. If I had a property in this city and I wanted to rent it, I would, and you could take me to court. It is illegal to prevent people from using their private property for rentals. One of the greatest things we have in the United States is our private property rights and you need to protect them.”

Steve Buckley commended the commission for allowing citizens to speak, adding, “I am in favor of less government.”