Dallas City Manager Says Short-Term Rental Ordinance Isn’t Ready For a Council Vote

The Dallas City Council spent more than seven hours Tuesday hearing testimony and debating the merits of banning or regulating short-term rentals in residential areas, but a draft proposed ordinance still isn’t “ready for prime time,” according to City Manager T.C. Broadnax.

“There’s still a lot of ambiguity in the data and council consensus,” Broadnax said. “We need to go back and regroup. I’m not hearing a majority of [council members] saying they are ready to move forward.”

Seventy-three residents registered to speak on STRs at Tuesday’s briefing. 

The breakdown of “for and against” isn’t entirely black and white, as some residents spoke in favor of property rights, some spoke in favor of a particular proposal, and some advocated for “regulating rather than eliminating.”

Many implored the council to approve the Keep It Simple Solution, proposed by District 14 Councilman Paul Ridley and approved by the City Plan Commission in December. The “KISS” proposal defines STRs as a lodging use and prohibits them from residential neighborhoods. 

Many residents on the other side of the issue suggested not “throwing out the baby with the bathwater” by approving an all-out ban.

A vote on the matter was tentatively scheduled for a special council meeting April 12. Broadnax suggested an additional briefing is needed once staff compiles more data, so the council isn’t likely to take action on an ordinance until the end of the month at the earliest.

Check CandysDirt.com for more coverage from this lengthy briefing later in the week.

The Proposals

About 95 percent of the existing registered STRs (1,765 properties) would be an illegal land use if the KISS proposal is approved, city staff told the council Tuesday. A 49-slide presentation reviewed by Assistant Director of Planning and Urban Design Andreea Udrea can be downloaded from the city website. 

Two draft ordinances were submitted with briefing materials for City Council review Tuesday. 

Once an ordinance is approved, it would take about a year for Code Compliance to begin enforcing it, based on software implementation, staffing, and training, city officials said.

An alternative proposed Tuesday by District 7 Councilman Adam Bazaldua, KISS 2.0 would allow individual neighborhoods to decide whether they want STRs and petition for a zoning change, similar to the process of creating a conservation district or zoning overlay. 

It was unclear whether the KISS proposal could be enacted without pulling financial resources from other areas, and it was unclear whether the KISS 2.0 proposal was viable since it didn’t go through the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee and City Plan Commission. 

Neighbor Feedback on Short-Term Rentals

During Tuesday’s briefing, District 3 resident Anga Sanders read a “love letter to the City of Dallas.”

“When we bought homes in residential areas, we entered a covenant with you,” Sanders read. “We promised to maintain our homes and pay property taxes and be the best neighbors we could be. You in turn promised infrastructure and protection. This is a relationship. You’re cheating on us, and we’re going to leave you …

“While you are seduced by the flashy promise of increased hotel taxes, understand that will pale in comparison to the revenue you will lose,” Sanders continued. “You’re getting ready to divorce a whole city. When you finally figure out that your side piece is just another gold digger, don’t come to us with, ‘Please baby, please baby.’ We don’t want to hear it. Last chance: We can either KISS and make up or not KISS and say goodbye.”

STR operator and District 9 resident Lisa Sievers said there are hundreds if not thousands of respectful, neighborhood-friendly STR operators in Dallas. She reviewed a city staff report showing over 88 percent of STRs have zero 311 or 911 calls associated with their property Less than 1 percent of the city’s total residents are STRs, according to the report. 

“These figures say to me that this is not the crisis of epic proportions that some would have you believe,” Sievers said. “This is a nuisance issue that can be handled with some fair and sensible solutions. Why do we want to zone 95 percent of STRs out of existence when over 90 percent of us are good operators? Let’s move forward with an ordinance with teeth, fully funded by STR fees with code enforcement working nights and weekends to root out the few bad operators and allow the rest of us to continue to operate.” 

Ridley pointed out later in the meeting that the data was collected from registered STRs, and many properties are operating unregistered. 

Representing the Dallas Neighborhood Coalition, District 14 resident Olive Talley spoke in support of KISS, saying residents have spent decades of their lives investing in their homes and neighborhoods. 

“It’s time to fix the problem and end the civil war that’s raging in our neighborhoods over short-term rentals that are destroying our neighborhoods and eroding our housing market,” Talley said. “That’s the choice: homes or hotels. Don’t sell us out to an $8 billion international booking platform and the wealthy investors who feed at its trough. As you bend into pretzels trying to find a compromise in the name of protecting the few hundred authentic moms-and-pops who actually live on their property, would you please quit losing sight of the fact that we are the little guys in this fight?” 

District 5 resident and Airbnb superhost Brian Grady McGahan spoke in favor of regulating short-term rentals. 

“We are not opposing parties,” he said. “All of us here want to solve the problems; we just have different ideas about how that should happen. We can solve these problems with regulations. That was the original plan. When someone is ill, you treat them. You don’t cut the head off the patient and call the problem solved. Simple bans do not work. Regulation is what is going to work.” 

Reaching a Compromise?

Other cities — such as Arlington, Austin, Carrollton, Fort Worth, Frisco, and Waxahachie — also have struggled to keep up with registered properties and enforcement. 

Dallas elected officials don’t appear to be interested in modeling an ordinance after another city. Some council members on Tuesday tipped their hands as to how they would vote. District 12 Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn — who is running unopposed in the May 6 election — wore a “Homes Not Hotels” T-shirt. 

Several council members mentioned how long it has taken to make a decision and agreed that action should be taken quickly. 

“One thing we can agree on now is that the status quo will not work,” said District 1 Councilman Chad West. “I hope we can remember the good operators as we regulate the bad ones.”

Tuesday’s discussion on STRs began with public testimony around 9:30 a.m. and ended with a briefing and council discussion that ended around 5:50 p.m. Visit the City of Dallas video archive to watch the full meeting.