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Council opens discussion on short‑term rental rules; staff to study special‑use permit and inspection options
Summary
The city attorney reviewed recent case law and neighboring cities' approaches; council asked staff to draft possible amendments including an SUP requirement for new non‑owner short‑term rentals, a 25% threshold test for on‑site smoking rooms, and an inspection/fee program; staff will return with proposed ordinance language and fee estimates.
City staff and the city attorney briefed the council on short‑term rental (STR) regulation options and recent court rulings, and council asked staff to prepare ordinance options for future consideration.
City attorney Joe (last name in record) reviewed litigation in Texas that has affected municipal STR regulation, noting that courts have sometimes struck down blanket bans on non‑owner‑occupied short‑term rentals but that some ordinances have been upheld where cities limited STRs to non‑single‑family or multifamily zones or established a detailed permitting process. "Most court cases have struck down the city ordinance. You have two examples where they have not," he said, citing Arlington and a more recent Grapevine decision as examples of nuanced approaches.
Staff said the city currently has about 80–100 registered STRs and reported $113,000 in hotel occupancy tax revenue from STRs last year. The council discussed requiring special‑use permits (SUPs) for any new STRs after a specified ordinance date — an approach similar to Carrollton’s model — while grandfathering existing registered operators. Advocates of the SUP approach said it would allow the city and neighbors to examine each application’s operating plan, ownership structure and potential impacts before approving new STRs.
Council members also discussed implementing an annual life‑safety inspection program for STRs. Staff circulated a draft checklist and comparative fee table showing inspection fees in other cities ranging roughly from a few hundred dollars up to about $500 per inspection; staff said inspections could be done in‑house or by third‑party contractors and that a fee would be needed to cover inspection costs.
No ordinance was adopted. Council directed staff to return with draft ordinance language for a permitting/SUP process for new STRs, options on inspection scope and fee levels, and information on whether to expand rental inspections more broadly.
