Dallas City Council to vote on regulations for short-term rentals
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council is expected to vote on ways to regulate short-term rentals.
For more than three years, the Dallas Neighborhood Coalition has been fighting for stricter regulations.
"I have been involved since January 2022 in this effort when the home behind me became a problem," Tom Forsyth said. "Every weekend there would be loud noises, there would be gunshots, parking all along the street, trash in the yards, even the neighbor that was in the house found a machete in the yard one time."
Now, the organization's hundreds of members are supporting the Dallas City Plan Commission's recommendation to classify short-term rentals as a "lodging use" in the city code, which would ban them from single-family residential areas.
It's something others residents recently opposed at a council briefing. Lisa Seevers owns and operates two short-term rentals.
"Zoning STRs out of residential areas is not going to create better neighbors or neighborhoods," Seevers said. "There are many ways to regulate without zoning such as targeted caps, city requirements and so on. Can someone at least consider these things before we move right straight to zoning?"
"Zoning is simply unfair when regulations haven't been considered," resident Karen Eubank said.
The other option the Dallas City Council will consider is the Planning and Urban Design Department's recommendation to address STRs through registration.
It's based on the belief that the major concerns are operational and would be best managed through a registration ordinance, enforced by Code Compliance Services.
"That is wrong," Forsyth said. "That is the exact opposite of what needs to be done. We feel that if they allow STR's to operate by right anywhere in the city that they'll proliferate and explode."
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
