City staff presented draft rules to regulate short-term rentals at the Oct. 14 work session, recommending a registration requirement, safety inspections and neighbor notification aimed at reducing neighborhood impacts while capturing lodging taxes.

Community Development Director Chris Favor told the council staff found about 465 short-term listings for properties inside the city on third-party platforms but only about 74 are registered with Visit Las Cruces. Favor said the proposed ordinance would require short-term rental operators to register a business license with the city, register with Visit Las Cruces, provide 24/7 owner/operator contact information, meet building- and fire-safety requirements (smoke detectors, egress maps and appropriate extinguishers), provide off-street parking and pay any required lodgers’ taxes.

Why it matters: Councilors and staff said registration will make it easier to enforce safety, noise and occupancy rules and ensure collections of any applicable lodging taxes. Favor recommended that operators notify neighbors within a 200-foot radius (staff said that distance is negotiable) and suggested enforcement would include graduated penalties and possible revocation of the registration for repeated violations.

Public comments and implementation details:
- Visit Las Cruces and community members said registration and tax-collection have been discussed for years and that some technical and administrative details remain unresolved; Rochelle Miller Hernandez (Visit Las Cruces) said Visit Las Cruces uses data-mining tools to identify listings and that past direct collection agreements with platforms have been inconsistent.
- A local property manager said the city and county need a clear administrative path for collecting lodgers tax from listings and asked whether a property-management firm can register multiple units under a single city account; staff said they would work through those operational details.
- Staff recommended occupancy limits in the draft: a baseline of two persons per bed plus two per unit for overnight guests and a cap on additional gathering attendees (draft suggested no more than 10 additional persons beyond the allowed overnight number), with enforcement steps to follow for repeated violations.

Next steps: Favor said staff will draft an ordinance for council consideration in December, make it effective in January and begin enforcement in July to give operators time to comply and to allow staff to develop outreach materials and administrative procedures.

Ending: Councilors asked staff to return with a final ordinance that clarifies the neighbor-notice radius, the enforcement hierarchy (first, second, third offense and revocation thresholds) and an approach to making lodgers-tax remittance administratively feasible for both individual owners and property managers.