Owners of a one-bedroom home they hope to use for tourist lodging will have to plead their case to the Eureka Springs City Council.

The Eureka Springs Planning Commission’s Board of Zoning Adjustment voted 5-1 at its Oct. 10 meeting to recommend denying a request to change the zoning classification of 104 S. Main St. from residential to commercial.

“We used to live in Oklahoma and we’ve moved a little further away so we don’t get to come to Eureka as often as we like,” said Stephen Seely, owner of the property that is located 0.2 miles down Main Street from city hall. “So, we would just like to go ahead and switch it over to commercial to do the nightly rentals.”

Seely said neighboring properties are zoned as commercial, including some in the area that were switched in recent years from residential classification.

Commission chair Susan Harman reminded Seely that tourist lodging is no longer allowed in R-1 areas and there is a moratorium on new bed and breakfast locations. Seely said that’s why he’s requesting the commercial zoning for the property, which he said he has owned for approximately 13 years.

Commissioner Peter Graham asked Seely if he considered making the property a long-term rental.

“Was there any consideration for it to go to a monthly rental for a local?” Graham asked.

“We just didn’t plan on doing that with it,” Seely responded.

One email was read from a nearby property owner in support of the change.

“I really thought when we started all this that the property was already commercial,” Seely told commissioners. “And then I called the county and came down and talked to Kyle [Palmer, the city’s director of planning and community development] and he said no, it wasn’t, that it was R-1. But like I said, our neighbors are all commercial.”

Commissioner Ferguson Stewart, who cast the only vote in favor of the zoning change, asked Seely if he was willing to follow all city codes and regulations for tourist lodging.

“That’s the reason I went and visited Kyle and we discussed what I needed to do,” Seely said.

Harman, Graham and commissioners Ann Tandy- Sallee, Tom Buford and Susane Gruning voted against the request.

“My concern is we keep chipping away at R-1 and we keep taking houses that could be for permanent residences to make tourist lodging,” Tandy-Sallee said.

Harman agreed. “I’m kind of in the same boat,” Harman said. “…It’s become such a big thing in Eureka about preserving our residential neighborhoods and those areas that are zoned, but also to continue to provide long-term housing.

“My only concern is not only chipping away at it, but when we make a decision to take something out, to spot zone, because this is what this is,. This is a request to spot zone in what is currently an R-1 home. Then where do we go when we have a line of people who want to spot zone? That’s my biggest concern.”

Despite the vote against the proposal, Harman reminded the city council might have a different opinion on the matter.

“All of our neighbors are commercial, so this is a bit ridiculous,” Tarra Seely told commissioners after the vote. “But I understand.”

The zoning request is on the agenda for the next city council meeting, to be held Monday, Oct. 23.