East Peoria delivers strong opposition to Airbnb rentals during City Council meeting

East Peoria City Council and residents delivered resounding rebukes to Airbnbs and other short-term rentals in the city during a meeting Tuesday night.

Mayor John Kahl delivered perhaps the bluntest opposition to short-term rentals, saying: "I don't want it next to me, I don't want it across from me. I've made it clear. I've voted against some before that have come before this council."

At issue Tuesday night were three different votes on short-term rentals. Two of the votes were whether to allow two Airbnbs at 108 Carroll St. and 310 Oakbrook Drive to continue operating in the city. The other vote was deciding whether to impose a six-month moratorium on new short-term rentals in East Peoria.

In all three votes, the city council voted 4-1 against short-term rentals. The Airbnbs at 108 Carroll St. and 310 Oakbrook Drive will have to cease operations, and for the next six months, no new short-term rental properties can operate in East Peoria.

East Peoria commissioner Mark Hill was the lone "yes" vote on all three matters.

Previous coverage: Which Peoria neighborhoods have the most short-term rentals? Here's where things stand

Residents raise safety concerns about Airbnbs

Eight residents appeared before the council Tuesday night to voice their opposition to the short-term rentals on Carroll Street and Oakbrook Drive, each with their own list of complaints against the properties and concerns about rentals operating in their neighborhood.

The chief complaint was rental properties bringing strangers to their neighborhoods and complaints about too many cars at the properties.

"Now it's basically a drive-in motel, with no one there to make them do whatever you're supposed to do," said Tim Arrowsmith, who lives at 106 Carroll Street. "They advertise a nice, quiet neighborhood, but the neighborhood is not quiet anymore. You've got people that are in and out just nonstop."

On Airbnb's website, the Carroll Street home has a 4.88 rating out of five. Neighbors of the Oakbrook Drive property brought forward similar complaints of a neighborhood being disturbed by Airbnb traffic.

"The biggest concern I have is with the security and safety of our neighborhood," said Steve Knobeloch, who lives on Oakbrook Drive. "We have a lot of out-of-towners coming through, we've had people walking the streets. They stopped by my wife's garage sale, and we got to know they were in town for a 21 party for a new drinker."

Beyond safety concerns and car traffic, other complaints included things you'd likely find in almost any populated neighborhood: barking dogs, people in yards hanging out and parking their cars in the road.

Kahl, who noted that he was not just playing to the crowd, said he would not support the two Airbnbs in question Tuesday night and was generally opposed the idea of short-term rentals in East Peoria.

"I won't support this one, and I won't support the next one," Kahl said during the discussion.

Hill, the only council member to support the Airbnbs, said the city ordinance passed in 2020 made it clear that East Peoria would allow short-term rentals to operate "whether you like it or not."

Petitioners' no-show upsets citizens, council

Kahl was upset with how the city has regulated the 11 short-term rentals in East Peoria. In December of 2020, the city passed an ordinance to allow short-term rentals to operate in East Peoria, Since then, Kahl says they have flown under the radar without enforcement from the city.

Both the properties on Oakbrook Drive and Carroll Street had operated as Airbnbs without having the proper license to do so, a move that angered Kahl and other council members.

The owner of the Carroll Street property, Huskins Properties LLC, paid a $500 fine to the city for operating without a license. That payment did not appease the anger of all in attendance, however.

"He got fined a whopping 500 bucks and he had been operating for months, illegally. If that's all you're going to do is charge somebody $500, I'll give you $1,000 to get him out of there," Arrowsmith said.

Hill argued that once the petitioners were notified they were operating illegally, they began to go through the proper process of getting a license and were compliant. He said no cease-and-desist order was ever issued for them to stop operating as an Airbnb during this time.

Kahl and commissioners Seth Mingus and Michael Sutherland took issue with the fact that neither petitioner for the properties was in attendance for Tuesday's meeting. Tom Pemble was the petitioner for the Oakbrook Drive property.

Sutherland said he had hoped to ask them questions. Kahl said it was blatant disrespect on their part.

"You didn't have enough respect to follow the city's ordinance in the first place, you've shown absolute disrespect to the city and our ordinance, your petition was denied by the ZBA, so you appeal it to the city council. I've never met the gentlemen, but I don't see him here," Kahl said. "So once again, it's nothing but disrespect from this person."

Sutherland, who proposed the six-month moratorium, voted no Tuesday night but said after the city comes up with a plan for Airbnbs during the moratorium he hopes both petitioners come back to the council for approval. He said he'd likely vote yes if they do.

Are Airbnb's fair to hotels and motels?

When the East Peoria City Council first approved short-term rentals to operate in 2020, it wanted them to be on an even playing field with hotels and motels and ruled that short-term rentals must pay the city's hotel and motel tax.

But Tuesday night, Kahl and other commissioners still vocalized their concerns that short-term rentals were cutting into hotel business in East Peoria, hotels that have made multimillion dollar investments in the community.

Kahl, who used to work with hotels in the hospitality industry before becoming mayor, said Airbnbs have posed a problem to hotels nationally.

"Airbnbs are nothing new, but what they did is they kind of crept up on everybody and that's the truth," Kahl said. "My customers were the hotels. What was said about the hotels... we absolutely as city leaders have an obligation to protect their investment in our community. I strongly feel that way.

"It's not a matter of taking sides with one or the other," Kahl added. "Residence Inn was a $20 million commitment, and now we're going to thumb our nose and say, 'Hey, we're going to open these up in our community so people have a cheaper alternative to go.'"

Commissioner Daniel Decker also said he was "uncomfortable" with Airbnbs because of the investment hotels had made in East Peoria. Admitting to having stayed in Airbnbs himself, Decker said he felt short-term rentals were better suited for cities with more tourism rather than places like East Peoria's neighborhoods.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 2 Airbnb rentals in East Peoria voted down during intense meeting