The Iberia Parish Council voted to request that the Planning and Zoning Commission take up the issue of regulations for short term rentals like AirBnB within parish limits. 

At Wednesday’s meeting, the council unanimously voted to send the request to the commission, which is expected to take up the issue at their Feb. 10 meeting. 

Councilman Brock Pellerin, who introduced the resolution, said the intent of the resolution is to have the commission take up the issue in a similar way they did for mobile home park regulations that were instituted by the parish government. Currently, Iberia Parish has no regulations regarding short term rental services like AirBnB. 

“They’ll come up with a committee and come up with an ordinance and then send it back to us,” Pellerin said. 

Councilman Brian Napier expressed some confusion as to whether members of the parish council will be part of the committee formed by Planning and Zoning, but legal council Ian Alpha said the decision for a committee will be up to Planning and Zoning and not the council. 

“They do have some autonomy from you guys even though you appoint and remove them,” Alpha said. “A committee implies they will be looking at different options, which is a valid way of doing it. You could also allow them to take it up over an agenda.”

Although the resolution passed by the council originally asked specifically for AirBnB regulations, Pellerin changed the language to short term rentals in order to cover all types of businesses that operate like the company. 

The growth of online services like AirBnB that allow visitors to quickly find a place to stay has skyrocketed in recent years, with 7.7 million listings and five million hosts worldwide. 

That includes Louisiana Acadiana, where many in Iberia Parish and other parishes have seen an increasing number of residents take renting out their property for visitors who come in from out of town.