Editor’s Note: A Dallas City Council agenda for the Tuesday, April 4, meeting was posted late Friday and includes a presentation on short-term rentals.
One of the biggest campaign issues of the Dallas City Council election cycle could be decided before early voting begins. Council members have discussed, debated, and deferred decisions on short-term rentals for years, and the matter is expected to come to a head next week at a Dallas City Council meeting.
A special-called meeting was requested for April 4 by District 14 Councilman Paul Ridley, District 4 Councilwoman Carolyn King Arnold, District 6 Councilman Omar Narvaez, District 12 Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, and District 13 Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis.
All five are seeking re-election; Mendelsohn is unopposed. Early voting begins on April 24. Election Day is May 6.
While at least one council member has advertised the April 4 meeting and encouraged residents to sign up to speak, an agenda had not been posted as of late Thursday night. The council is planning its spring goal-setting retreat Wednesday, April 5.
Short-Term Rentals: Regulate or Eliminate?
Some elected officials have made it clear where they stand.
Ridley proposed the Keep It Simple Solution, which was approved by the City Plan Commission in December. It defines STRs as a lodging use, thereby prohibiting them in residential neighborhoods.
The KISS proposal “provides some latitude for [the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee] and [City Plan Commission] to provide recommendations to us in terms of the details and yet represents a significant number of council members’ wishes,” Ridley said at a June council meeting.
District 7 Councilman Adam Bazaldua has called for “sensible regulations,” rather than a sweeping elimination of STRs in residential neighborhoods.
“The current proposal, also known as the KISS solution, is not only a heavy-handed policy recommendation that directly violates private property rights, but it’s also extremely inequitable and it perpetuates our City’s long history of North Dallas [residents] making zoning decisions for the entire city, with no consideration or perspective of residents in Southern Dallas and all over the city,” Bazaldua tweeted Wednesday. “We must prioritize neighborhood self-determination, which will require a much more thoughtful approach than what is being proposed.”
Weighing The Costs And Benefits of STRs
Outspoken residents can be found on both sides of the issue.
Some residents have detailed the stuff of nightmares in their experiences living near an STR, including murders, drug deals, and human trafficking.
Conversely, some registered, tax-paying, on-site STR operators have expressed that they provide a safe, affordable housing option for business travelers and tourists when hotels are overcrowded and guests are looking to relocate to North Texas.
The City Plan Commission wrestled with finding an option that would allow some residential STRs and regulate the “bad actors.” Ultimately, in a split vote, the council-appointed CPC approved the Keep It Simple Solution.
Planning Commissioners Brent Rubin, Brandy Treadway, Tony Shidid, and Tipton Housewright voted against it.
Watch the Dec. 8 CPC meeting here.
A vote on the KISS proposal or an alternative solution is not expected next week; in the five-signature memo issued Feb. 24, the council members requested a “full Council briefing” on April 4, to be followed by voting consideration the following week.
