Kenai planners approve two Woodland Subdivision short-term rentals, one 3-2

Kenai's Planning and Zoning Commission approved short-term rental permits Wednesday for two homes in the Woodland Subdivision, one of them 3-2 after neighbors argued it would open their street to investor-owned Airbnbs.

Bob Molloy and Kristine Schmidt, who bought their home on Ash Avenue in 1985, led the opposition to the Ash Avenue permit. Molloy said covenants barred businesses in Woodland Part 1. "This would be the first Airbnb in our Part 1 neighborhood," he said, and investors could buy the street's vacant and burned-out houses, leaving families unable to buy or rent them. Schmidt said transient lodging "is incompatible with our neighborhood's single-family residential use."

Both homes were already being rented short term. The Ash Avenue application lists the house as "converted from long term rental to short term rental," and Derek Fowler, who owns the Walnut Avenue home, said his family didn't know a permit was needed when they signed up with Airbnb.

The approved resolution says there are other short-term rentals in the subdivision. Planning Director Kevin Buettner said none in Part 1 have permits, and he doesn't believe any elsewhere in the subdivision do either.

Stephanie Lenzini-LeBaron and Bryce LeBaron, now of Anchor Point, own the Ash Avenue house. Lenzini-LeBaron said long-term renters damaged it and that short stays let the family inspect it between guests.

Both permits limit guests to six, or two per bedroom, and set quiet hours from 10 pm to 7 am.

The Walnut Avenue permit, in Woodland Part 2, passed with no opposing votes. Fowler said he rents the home about 75 days a year while his family travels in summer. Neighbor Bruce Ladd said he worried about "transient people, not knowing who these people are."

Commissioner Diane Fikes, who said city code is not a strong enough tool for short-term rentals, proposed capping the Walnut rental at 75 days a year, as Schmidt requested. It failed 3-2, with a commissioner who voted no calling it unfair since the Ash permit has no such limit.

Buettner said the commission has held work sessions on revising the code, but the City Council has made no changes. Either decision can be appealed within 15 days.