Plano city leaders continue discussion on short-term rentals
PLANO (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Once again, the Plano City Council is discussing short-term rentals.
Plano resident Zoey Sanchez attended the meeting and is demanding restrictions.
"My daughter asks me almost daily are the bad guys coming back?" she said. "Why would someone shoot our house?"
She said that last month, a fight at a short-term rental led to a shot being fired into her daughter's playroom.
Luckily, no one was hurt but members of the Plano Texas Neighborhood Coalition stress it could have been much worse.
"That was pretty shocking, in fact frightening, as a matter of fact we have a short-term rental right behind us.. and now you kind of understand what everybody's talking about," Dianna Biscan said.
"Every week, every week if you live next to a short-term rental, it's what's going to happen this weekend?" Bill France said. "That's no way to live."
Since last November, city staff has worked on collecting data and developing an outreach plan.
"Mayor and council as you know we have a lot of guidance from court decisions and regulating short-term rentals," City Attorney Paige Mims said.
They've been looking at what regulations are legally defensible.
"We know that registration and licensing has been upheld and we can require safety guidelines," she said.
- Zoning is an option – it must go through the regular zoning process.
- A nuisance ordinance is also possible. It must be applied to all properties, unless data supports an issue unique to short-term rental uses.
- A temporary ban was also discussed.
"Ultimately, I would like to see a three or a four or a six-month commitment on the rental," Biscan said.
"I think the right solution for the city is to create specific zones that will allow short-term rentals, and then have specific zones that prohibit them," France said.
City council has told staff to have a proposal before them at their next meeting.
