LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) – Business and tourism have boomed over the last year in Laurel, causing more and more people to travel to the City Beautiful.
”People want to come to Laurel to see Laurel, Mississippi,” said Mayor Johnny Magee.
Last year, the city council opted against an ordinance to regulate Airbnbs, but now the council wants to regulate how short-term rentals operate inside the city limits.
“We finally got to the point where we realized we had to do something about controlling the Airbnb’s, controlling where they were located inside the city,” said Magee.
Magee added the main concern was to keep single-family home neighborhoods the same.
The council passed on first reading an ordinance to limit the number of Airbnbs allowed in a residential area.
“You can have one Airbnb in your main house,” said Magee. “If you have a separate structure behind your house, which a lot of areas in the historic district do, you can have another Airbnb in one of the houses behind your main house.”
The council also discovered that some residents already had more than one Airbnb on their property, but they’re not going to interfere with them. So those residents have an exception to the rule and will be allowed to keep them.
However, all residents wanting to have an Airbnb will have to pay a yearly fee.
This ordinance coincides with the hotel and tourism tax approved in early June.
“We also passed a 3% tax on hotels; we will also collect from the Airbnbs at 3%, which will go toward tourism in the city of Laurel,” said Magee. “It will also go toward, parts of it can go toward, operating the wellness, the welcome center, that is going to be built on Leontyne Boulevard.”
All residents wanting more information on Airbnb’s within the city should call the mayor’s office or the City of Laurel Inspection Department.
The second and final reading of the ordinance will be on August 16 at 9 am.
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