Natchitoches Mayor Ronnie Williams Jr. kicked off a City Council work session on June 11 to discuss regulating short term rentals by saying, “Tourism is a part of our blood. It’s not our position to ban short term rentals, but to give guidance and to make a definition as to what a short term rental is here in the City of Natchitoches.”

The proposed ordinance available to attendees was based off Covington’s short term rental ordinance with very small changes.

Council member Eddie Harrington said that short term rentals currently fall under the definition of traditional bed and breakfast operations, according to how ordinances are written. According to the ordinance, residential districts are designed to protect the residential character of areas by prohibiting all commercial activities with special exceptions, which have to be considered on an individual case basis subject to approval by the planning commission and/or city council. Special exceptions are made for bed and breakfast operations, which short term rentals fall under.

“I think we can add a little more detail than that if we want to, but I think the current ordinance covers everything all ready,” said Harrington. Short term rentals (less than 30 days) could simply be added as a special exception under the current ordinance.

Concerns were voiced regarding limiting short term rentals to the Historic District, banning the consumption of alcohol on short term rental properties, limiting the total occupancy of a short term rental to eight people, and charging a $400 permit fee when it’s only $50 for regular bed and breakfast operations.

Planning and Zoning Director Shontrell Roque explained, “The economy has changed and now we have Air B&Bs versus traditional bed and breakfasts. Ordinances need to be updated to encompass what we have to deal with. There’s a lot more entailed in the new ordinance for short term rentals versus traditional bed and breakfasts.”

Mayor Williams said they plan to make some changes to the ordinance based on the feedback they received and propose it for introduction at the next city council meeting. One attendee asked if another work session could be held to go over the newly revised ordinance before it gets introduced at a city council meeting.