The city of North Little Rock is taking steps to carry out a new ordinance regulating short-term rentals.
Officials are hosting a meeting at the North Little Rock City Council Chamber in City Hall at 2 p.m. on Thursday to educate short-term rental owners on the new regulations established by the council last week.
Licensed short-term rental owners within the city limits should have received a call from the chief deputy city clerk or treasurer Katelyn Thomas to attend the meeting, according to the city.
On Tuesday, officials announced Thursday's meeting as a way to educate people about the rules for short-term rentals.
Short-term rental owners within the city limits without a current North Little Rock Business/Privilege license are encouraged to attend, officials said. City staff will be available to go over the process for the two types of rentals (Type 1 -- occupied) and (Type 2 -- not owner occupied).
The six-month startup period has begun after the ordinance was passed April 10, prohibiting any new short-term rentals from opening within the city limits.
Now, short-term rental operators with an active city license are required to submit documentation to maintain such a license within three months. If the process is not started within three months, the revocation process for existing licenses will be initiated.
Existing short-term rental properties without a city of North Little Rock business license also have three months to start the process for a special use to allow the short-term rental. To qualify as a pre-existing short-term rental, satisfactory proof of operation prior to the adoption of the ordinance must be provided.
Additional regulations of the ordinance include:
A daily quiet period at all short-term rentals from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. per the noise ordinance already in effect.
Payment to the city for North Little Rock hotel, motel and restaurant taxes and other applicable local, state and federal taxes and city fees owed in connection with any short-term rental.
The initial and subsequent annual fee/occupation tax is $50 per person, per year, based on the maximum overnight occupancy authorized by the Short-Term Residential Rental Business Licenses.
The issue of short-term rentals has been a widely debated topic in cities across the state, including Hot Springs, which eventually created a special web page devoted to two amended ordinances, a license application and an online complaint form.
North Little Rock is one of the top 10 largest cities in Arkansas with a population of about 64,162 residents and attracts out-of-town visitors to, among other places, Simmons Bank Arena concerts and to various activities at Burns Parks, which is one of the largest municipal parks in the nation.
The move to create the regulations in North Little Rock stemmed, in part, from complaints about overflow parking, non-disposal of garbage and loud noise in some neighborhoods.
Beth White, a former North Little Rock council member who was among the speakers at the meeting where the city council ultimately approved the regulations April 10, expressed her frustration with the six short-term rentals within walking distance of her Glenmere Road home.
"It's a continual stream of strangers who aren't invested in our community," she said at the meeting.
Visitors park on the neighborhood's grass, leave trash bags everywhere and host parties until all hours of the night, White added.
The council -- after much debate -- voted 7-1 to regulate short-term rentals, with council member Nathan Hamilton voting no. He said the city ought to enforce the rules it has in place on noise, trash collection and parking -- not create a new law. He also said the focus of enforcement should be on long-term rentals and absentee landlords.
Charlie Hight, a North Little Rock council member and co-sponsor of the ordinance, said that in the past, the city didn't know who the owners of short-term rentals were or if they paid taxes. Now, the city will know.
"I think it's a good move on our part," he said April 10. "I think we did something to benefit the citizens of North Little Rock."