Council rejects zoning change that would have regulated short‑term rentals after hours of public comment

Warr Acres — After more than two hours of public comment, the Warr Acres City Council on Oct. 21 voted down a proposed amendment that would have defined short‑term residential home sharing as a form of hotel use and allowed it in R‑1 (single‑family) neighborhoods as a use subject to review.

Councilman Fairchild sponsored the change and presented an ordinance to add a “home sharing” definition and to require a review process and business license if the council allowed the use. Fairchild said the intent was to give the city tools to regulate short‑term rentals rather than leave them unaddressed. “I would rather, I think, strategically, regulate them hard than try to ban them outright,” he told the council, and warned that an outright ban could prompt costly litigation: “I’m almost 99% sure if we wanna ban…