OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Broken Arrow Special City Council Work Session on Short-Term Rental Ordinance Amendments - March 3, 2026

Meeting Portal — Tuesday, March 3, 2026
BodyBroken Arrow, Oklahoma
SessionMeeting Portal
DateTuesday, March 3, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 53:54

Transcript — Verbatim
0:36

Is this a sign in meeting?

0:37

Or no?

0:38

It says five o'clock.

0:40

So I wasn't sure.

0:43

Call the broken air special city council meeting to order.

0:46

Roll call.

0:51

Green.

0:52

Here.

0:53

Ford.

0:53

Here.

0:54

Parks.

0:55

Wimpe.

0:56

Here.

0:58

Three preview ordinances.

1:00

Three A consideration discussion and possible preview of ordinance number 3905.

1:04

Amending chapter 7, Article 17.

1:09

Definitions, operating standards, platform duties, owner cap, enforcement, and appendix checklist.

1:14

Jeffard, maybe?

1:15

Yes.

1:16

I am prepared.

1:18

Thank you.

1:19

Just one quick just one point is that a lot of work went into this with Trevor and Chief Arnold.

1:25

And I wanted Trevor to lead this conversation since his order amendments, but the chief's going to be moving in and out to answer questions and discuss what's being proposed.

1:33

Okay.

1:34

And to begin, I thought we had a PowerPoint presentation.

1:37

There it is.

1:38

Ask and you shall receive.

1:41

Excellent.

1:42

So I think these are some items that we can move through basically at your leisure.

1:48

At any time if you have any questions or comments or directions, that's really what this is is a work session to get your input so that we know exactly what you want to do to regulate this this area.

1:59

We have some suggestions from our last preview ordinance, and kind of to bring you up to speed, uh what's happened since then is uh Chief Arnold has met with several uh short-term rental owners, and so we've gotten input from the business community to see how these regulations would impact their day-to-day operations.

2:16

They also had some recommendations on what they thought would make you know some better revisions or changes.

2:22

And we we were in agreement with several of those, and we'll have an opportunity to talk about what those are as we go forward with it.

2:29

Um, originally one of the thoughts I had was to uh just go line by line on all the different changes, but I decided a more efficient approach would be let's like highlight at a uh 30,000 foot level, and then we can kind of drill down on what the recommended changes would be, and then if you wanted to get into details on any of the others, we'll certainly have opportunity to do that.

2:51

So if with that, we'll go ahead and begin.

2:55

So we really wanted to talk a little bit about the current state of the um short-term rentals.

3:01

Uh like I said, we're gonna talk about what some of the changes are uh with the owners.

3:05

Specifically, we're gonna talk about the recommended insurance requirement.

3:09

Um like I said, we're not gonna go the ordinance line by line, but we are gonna talk about that steps.

3:15

Let's do the next slide.

3:17

So let's talk about the current state of affairs.

3:19

So the first thing we need to do is get our our bearings in terms of the definitions.

3:24

So we have three types of short-term rentals uh in our city.

3:28

Um the first type are called STR1s, and those are where the owner resides on the premises, and there's a single family dwelling where there's no more than two guest bedrooms or sleeping rooms are rented.

3:41

So those are the more the less intense uses.

3:44

Um and so as we go through there, we'll see that depending on the use of the residents, that might dictate how intensive the regulations would be.

3:53

So you'll see like some of the regulations that we'll be recommending for a short term short-term rental one, might be less than what we would say for short-term rental two or three.

4:02

Uh we currently have one short-term rental one, I'm sorry, ten short-term rental ones uh in the city.

4:09

The second type we have is a type two.

4:11

We have 61 of those in the city right now, and there's no owner occupancies required, but on on type twos, there's no more than four guest bedrooms that are allowed.

4:22

And then once you get to type three, you get the more intensive use.

4:25

They're more like a um Airbnb, like a like a bed and breakfast or an inn uh more like that, because those are those are no more than eight uh units.

4:36

So you're getting into more of a boarding house type uh unit at that point.

4:41

Um, but what we have found through our investigation is that we we've identified 65 short-term rentals operating without a license because we don't have information from them, we don't know how to categorize them.

4:52

We don't know exactly the number of rooms or if if they're you know owner occupied.

4:57

Um there's yeah, yes, ma'am.

5:00

Question on that.

5:01

So, like, but but you know that there are 65 out there, but we don't have a way of contacting them or well.

5:08

I would have to uh defer uh to Brocky if he has some more information on how we identified the 65 that are operating without a license.

5:15

So, yeah, we've identified them through the BRBO or uh the other short-term rental platforms, and we do send them letters, but currently we have no enforcement mechanism to have them come into compliance.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Short Term Rental Regulation█████████████████████████████████████████████67%
Public Safety█████████████20%
Budget Equity Analysis████6%
Economic Development███4%
Procedural██3%
Summary of Proceedings

Broken Arrow Special City Council Work Session on Short-Term Rental Ordinance Amendments - March 3, 2026

On March 3, 2026, at 5:00 p.m., the Broken Arrow City Council held a special work session to discuss proposed amendments to Ordinance 3905, which would revise regulations for short-term rentals (STRs). The meeting focused on definitions, enforcement tools, insurance requirements, and operational standards. Staff from the City Attorney's office and Police Department presented current challenges and recommended changes, while one STR owner provided public comment. No formal votes were taken; council directed staff to revise the ordinance and bring it back for a future preview.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Carla Coates, a permitted short-term rental owner of two type-two properties in Broken Arrow, expressed full support for requiring permits and enforcement against unlicensed operators. She noted that her properties are listed exclusively on Airbnb (70%) and VRBO (30%), which already provide secondary liability coverage. She opposed additional costs for compliant owners and suggested that quiet hours and a local responsible agent are effective. She also highlighted that short-term rental owners do not receive hotel incentive packages enjoyed by traditional hotels.

Discussion Items

  • Current State of Short-Term Rentals: Staff defined three STR types: Type 1 (owner-occupied, ≤2 guest bedrooms) – 10 licensed; Type 2 (no owner occupancy, ≤4 guest bedrooms) – 61 licensed; Type 3 (up to 8 units, like a bed and breakfast) – fewer. Staff identified 65 unlicensed STRs via hosting platforms, but lack enforcement mechanisms. About 2–3 new STRs come online weekly, many owned by out-of-state entities, making citation service and prosecution difficult.
  • Hotel/Motel Tax: The existing hotel tax approved by voters in 2008 defines a hotel as having five or more rooms, so only Type 3 STRs are taxed. Expanding the tax to other STRs would require a new vote of the people to clarify the definition. Councilmember Ford noted the importance of this tax for tourism funding.
  • Police Calls for Service (2024–2025): Permitted STRs generated 28 calls; unpermitted STRs generated 30 calls. The top address (1205 West Quincy Street) had 8 calls, many involving parties, noise, and shots fired. Chief Arnold emphasized that unpermitted owners cannot be held accountable via permit revocation.
  • Feedback from STR Owners: Staff met with licensed owners, who requested: exempting Type 1 STRs from publishing license numbers on listings (for privacy), allowing hosting platforms to remit taxes on owners' behalf, and a transition period to compliance at renewal rather than a fixed deadline. Staff recommended accepting these changes.
  • Insurance Requirement: A proposed $1 million commercial general liability insurance was discussed. A standalone policy costs $2,000–$3,000/year, while an umbrella policy costs $200–$400/year. Both Airbnb and VRBO provide $1 million secondary coverage. Councilmembers expressed reluctance to burden compliant owners; Councilmember Pickle noted no evidence that personal homeowners policies cover commercial use. Council appeared inclined to remove the insurance mandate, especially for Type 1 and Type 2 STRs already covered by platforms.
  • Operational Standards: Proposed requirements include: quiet hours (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.), interior non-recording noise monitoring devices (~$100), a local responsible agent who responds within one hour, a parking plan (at least one off-street space per sleeping area plus one for the owner), occupancy limits (no more than 10 non-overnight guests), and safety measures (smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, exit plans). Exemptions for Type 1 were discussed but not decided.
  • Ownership Cap: Staff raised the option of limiting the number of STRs any individual or entity can own (e.g., to prevent large corporate ownership). Council did not reach consensus; some expressed reluctance to limit business growth.
  • Enforcement & Penalties: The proposed suspension ladder includes 30-day suspension for two verified complaints, 90-day for three, and immediate suspension for serious incidents. However, Councilmember Ford and Mayor questioned the effectiveness against out-of-state owners who ignore citations. Staff suggested working with hosting platforms to delist unlicensed properties and will explore other options such as liens or utility disconnection.

Key Outcomes

  • Council provided informal direction to staff to: remove the insurance requirement for all STRs (based on consensus); retain the local responsible agent, noise monitor, quiet hours, parking, and safety plan requirements; and further investigate stronger enforcement mechanisms (e.g., liens, partnerships with platforms).
  • Staff will revise the ordinance based on tonight's discussion and bring it back for a second preview before a final vote.
  • No formal motion was made; the meeting adjourned after a motion by Councilmember Green, seconded by Councilmember Pickle.

Meeting Transcript

Is this a sign in meeting? Or no? It says five o'clock. So I wasn't sure. Call the broken air special city council meeting to order. Roll call. Green. Here. Ford. Here. Parks. Wimpe. Here. Three preview ordinances. Three A consideration discussion and possible preview of ordinance number 3905. Amending chapter 7, Article 17. Definitions, operating standards, platform duties, owner cap, enforcement, and appendix checklist. Jeffard, maybe? Yes. I am prepared. Thank you. Just one quick just one point is that a lot of work went into this with Trevor and Chief Arnold. And I wanted Trevor to lead this conversation since his order amendments, but the chief's going to be moving in and out to answer questions and discuss what's being proposed. Okay. And to begin, I thought we had a PowerPoint presentation. There it is. Ask and you shall receive. Excellent. So I think these are some items that we can move through basically at your leisure. At any time if you have any questions or comments or directions, that's really what this is is a work session to get your input so that we know exactly what you want to do to regulate this this area. We have some suggestions from our last preview ordinance, and kind of to bring you up to speed, uh what's happened since then is uh Chief Arnold has met with several uh short-term rental owners, and so we've gotten input from the business community to see how these regulations would impact their day-to-day operations. They also had some recommendations on what they thought would make you know some better revisions or changes. And we we were in agreement with several of those, and we'll have an opportunity to talk about what those are as we go forward with it. Um, originally one of the thoughts I had was to uh just go line by line on all the different changes, but I decided a more efficient approach would be let's like highlight at a uh 30,000 foot level, and then we can kind of drill down on what the recommended changes would be, and then if you wanted to get into details on any of the others, we'll certainly have opportunity to do that. So if with that, we'll go ahead and begin. So we really wanted to talk a little bit about the current state of the um short-term rentals. Uh like I said, we're gonna talk about what some of the changes are uh with the owners. Specifically, we're gonna talk about the recommended insurance requirement. Um like I said, we're not gonna go the ordinance line by line, but we are gonna talk about that steps. Let's do the next slide. So let's talk about the current state of affairs. So the first thing we need to do is get our our bearings in terms of the definitions. So we have three types of short-term rentals uh in our city. Um the first type are called STR1s, and those are where the owner resides on the premises, and there's a single family dwelling where there's no more than two guest bedrooms or sleeping rooms are rented. So those are the more the less intense uses. Um and so as we go through there, we'll see that depending on the use of the residents, that might dictate how intensive the regulations would be. So you'll see like some of the regulations that we'll be recommending for a short term short-term rental one, might be less than what we would say for short-term rental two or three. Uh we currently have one short-term rental one, I'm sorry, ten short-term rental ones uh in the city. The second type we have is a type two. We have 61 of those in the city right now, and there's no owner occupancies required, but on on type twos, there's no more than four guest bedrooms that are allowed.

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