If you’re in Parkville and not fond of short-term rental properties in your neighborhood, brace yourself. The restrictions on short term residential dwelling units, more commonly known as Airbnb and VRBO and such, will be lifted next summer while the World Cup soccer event is going on in Kansas City.
Specifically, Parkville says it will “temporarily allow an unlimited number of short-term rentals in Parkville between May 1 and July 31, 2026 to coincide with the FIFA World Cup from June 11 to July 26, 2026.”
In Parkville, short term VRBOs and the like were first allowed in 2021, when the city adopted regulations that allowed a total of four short-term rentals per ward, with one dwelling unit per owner-occupied property and one dedicated parking space.
The temporary regulations will lift restrictions relating to the total number of short term rentals and the number of dwelling units per property between May 1 and July 31, 2026. Property owners will still be required to provide at least one parking space for the rental, the city says, but the property owner will not be required to live at the residence.
City of Parkville officials say the application fee will remain at $300 and each short-term rental will be required to obtain a Parkville business license and remit a five percent guest room tax.
In a press release this week, Stephen Lachky, community development director for the City of Parkville, said: “Even though the 2026 FIFA World Cup is not until next summer, we anticipate guests will want to make reservations well in advance of coming to our region. Property owners can go ahead and register now as a third-party platform (Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO) host. Simply complete an application for Lodging – Short-Term RDR online at parkvillemo.gov/business/short-term-rentals/.”
Parkville Mayor Dean Katerndahl chimed in with: “This is a great opportunity for locals to benefit and for Parkville to show how welcoming we are. With the world visiting our region, we want Parkville to play an active role. Temporarily easing rental rules helps meet demand while allowing residents to share in the excitement and hospitality of the World Cup.”
There you go, Parkville property owners. A chance to make a few extra dollars while the World Cup is in town.
The possibility was mentioned in last week’s column and it played out in real life. I hit the Royals game on Sunday afternoon. My ‘hit’ was about the hardest one of the day, as the Royals’ offense continued its season long puny ways, being held hapless and scoreless in a 1-0 loss to the Tigers. It’s not like Detroit tore things up, either. The Tigers only run came when a pitch got away from our ‘ain’t as young as he used to be catcher’ who just kind of stood up and stared at the ball thinking it was going to magically bounce back to him, I guess. The runner on third took a couple quick steps down the line then stopped, then realized Salvy’s joints needed oiling so he started running again and scored easily. Oh well. I hadn’t seen that kind of quality baseball since my grandson’s T-ball game three nights earlier.
Should have trusted my gut, which was telling me not to pay for Royals tickets until some moves were made to try to improve the putrid offense.
Late that night, what did the Royals do? They called up the young and highly touted next team star from Omaha. Jac Caglianone, age 22, is now on the roster. Everyone is expecting big things. Could happen.
Now that Caglianone is up, I need to fight off the urge to buy more tickets. Should I? Or should I not? Somebody chime in here and help me help myself.
In Platte City, city officials are warning that changes in the city’s recycling program are going to have to come at some point. Just a heads up.
“It’s not sustainable for us to run the recycling truck every week,” DJ Gehrt, interim city administrator for Platte City, said Monday night. What he means by that is it’s not making financial sense. As a sidenote, the market for recyclables isn’t what it used to be. For instance, Gehrt said there basically is not a beneficial market for recyclable plastic or paper.
A couple of years ago the city went to every other week on recycling pickup. The experiment ended after about four months. Gehrt said the city probably didn’t give that experiment enough time. Gehrt says the city’s recycling truck is in better condition than the city’s two trash trucks, but will reach the end of its service life within the next two years.
Stay tuned for more on Platte City’s recycling program in the coming months.
Other City of Platte City public works news. The city’s two trash collection vehicles, a 2012 backup vehicle and the 2018 primary collection truck, have both exceeded their normal six year service life, city officials say. “The trucks are increasingly unavailable due to maintenance issues, maintenance costs continue to increase at a rate much greater than the rate of inflation,” Gehrt says.
The city has budgeted $400,000 in the current year to replace the primary trash truck. The original intent was to buy a fully automated trash truck with an automated collection arm on the side. But after testing several side-arm collection vehicles on city routes, it was determined that the side loading did not work well in over 60 percent of the city due to narrow streets, alleys, small cul-de-sacs and curbside parking. As a result of the test run, it has been determined that a fully automated, side loading truck is not a workable solution.
Instead, the city in its next purchase will again go with a traditional rear loading trash truck, similar to the existing equipment. The rear loaders can be purchased form a cooperative purchasing source for about $300,000, Gehrt said, a cool $100,000 cheaper than the automated truck would cost the city.
There’s more talk of the future trash collection changes–and the size of your container–but we’ll save that for another time.
(Convince Foley that he shouldn’t be suckered into buying more Royals tickets. Or that he should. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
