Overland Park to take up short-term rentals issue after fatal shooting in vacation house
After a deadly shooting over the weekend at a house that was being rented out in an Overland Park neighborhood, Mayor Curt Skoog announced on Monday that the City Council will take a look at short-term rentals in the city.
“Safe neighborhoods are a key component of Overland Park’s high quality of life,” said Skoog in a prepared statement he read during Monday night’s meeting.
Issues associated with the growing trend of homeowners using their properties as short-term rentals have come to the attention of the City Council and has been a top of discussion for some time, he said.
“It is time to move this complicated topic forward,” Skoog said.
He set an initial discussion on short-term rentals for the council’s April 4 meeting, saying at that time the council can discuss how they would like to move forward.
“Short-term rental operators need to be considerate of their neighbors in the community and we need to ensure our residential neighborhoods will continue to be safe and welcoming,” Skoog said.
The decision to take up the topic comes after 46-year-old Cheryl “Sharell” Hollowman of Wichita died in an early morning shooting during a party at an Overland Park house used as a short-term vacation rental. Several family members and friends attended the party, police said.
Anthony Duane Smith, 46, of Topeka, was charged Monday with a single count of second-degree murder. The charge alleged that Smith “unintentionally, but recklessly, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life” killed Holloman. He was being held in Johnson County jail on $500,000 bond.
Police responded to the shooting around 6 a.m. at the house in the 9700 block of West 145th Terrace. Family members had already taken Holloman to a hospital where she later died.
The rental house is owned by Kishore Kakileti, a real estate professional, who has properties in Boston, Kansas and Texas. He uses the 5,000-square-foot, six-bedroom, 5 1/2 bath Overland Park house as his second home.
Police are looking into whether the house was one that could be rented on Airbnb. Although no listing for the house could be found on that site Tuesday morning, the home was still listed on Vrbo for an average of $646 per night.
