SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) –The Sioux Falls City Council is considering amending an ordinance concerning short-term rental properties like Airbnb or VRBO.

In tonight’s Your Money Matters, the changes being proposed in Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County and the group of local Short Term rental owners now working to share more about their industry’s impact in the community.

“We organized quite some time ago to talk about really our story,” Sioux Falls Short Term Rental Alliance member Christine Erickson said.

The Sioux Falls Short Term Rental Alliance began online but now has some of the city’s largest rental owners sharing their impact on the community.

“We’re bringing $13 million back to the city, not including all the local businesses we’re recommending,” alliance member Albert Huizing said.

“We are recommending folks to go see our parks system, go to the local coffee shop, go eat at these local places, go see our city, its really important to us that we’re also supporting our local community,” Erickson said.

Christine Erickson has been a short-term rental owner for more than a decade; she says her business is helping revitalize the All Saints neighborhood.

“We’re putting our funds back into those properties….that maybe were a little tired in the past,” Erickson said.

“We have 25 different short-term rentals that span from full houses to 4 plexes,” Huizing said.

Albert Huizing and his wife have made short-term rentals for their full-time business. Their company Sodak Stays includes many revitalized properties in central Sioux Falls.

“We’ve had 2000 plus stays with only two challenges,” Huizing said.

Both short-term rental owners say they rarely have any issues with their guests, but they know that’s not always the case.

“What’s happened over the years is there’s maybe been one or two bad actors that have had bad stays and that causes challenges,” Erickson said.

It’s one reason Minnehaha County and the city of Sioux Falls are looking at potential changes to the current short-term rental ordinance that was originally passed in 2002.

“Some of the proposed regulation coming forward would essentially knock some of us out of the rental game for the short term,” Erickson said.

One of the group’s concerns is the requirement to have a parking space for each bedroom in the rental.

“Let’s say my house has four bedrooms if you need to have a parking space per bedroom, I have a shared driveway and one off-street parking spot, if I have that as a normal homeowner, I can’t even make that work for my own family,” Huizing said.

They’re also questioning a newly proposed measure that would require notification of all neighbors within 500 feet of the property.

“My question is what constitutes a valid complaint from a neighbor? If I can just be a neighbor and complain saying, hey I just don’t like that they’re doing this. Isn’t that impacting my rights as a property owner?” Huizing said.

The first reading of the proposed ordinance changes happened last week, with a second reading and public comment scheduled for Tuesday, August 22nd at the Sioux Falls City Council meeting.