Dallas officials have made new recommendations for how short-term rentals should be regulated just days ahead of a deciding vote by City Council members.
Dallas’ Planning and Urban Design (PUD) Department has issued new recommendations that would allow short-term rentals (STRs) like Airbnb and Vrbo in single-family neighborhoods, according to a City memo released late Friday, reported Fox News.
In the memo, PUD staff reportedly contended that STRs should be allowed to operate in all parts of the city — with regulation, according to Fox News.
However, these new recommendations go directly against prior proposals by the City Plan Commission (CPC), which called for the disallowance of STRs in single-family neighborhoods.
The 11th-hour decision lands ahead of a crucial vote expected Wednesday by City Council members to determine whether Dallas defines STRs in the city as “lodging.”
The sudden about-face is one CPC member and land use attorney Melissa Kingston thinks is unfair.
“I don’t think it was done in good faith,” she told Fox News.
Kingston explained that prior recommendations banned STRs from single-family neighborhoods but left many places in the city where they could still operate.
For six months, Dallas City Council members have considered a recommendation that would limit STRs in single-family neighborhoods, but now, “at the eleventh hour, [City staff have] done a 180,” she said, per Fox News, claiming that last-minute changes were hindering the process.
“It is incredibly unfair to the residents on both sides of the issue who had literally spent hundreds of hours down at city hall, taking days off of work, arguing their positions and advocating for their positions, many of whom view this as a fight for their very homes,” Kingston said.
Dallas City Council Member Paul Ridley acknowledged to Fox News that the public has not had a chance to comment on PUD’s recent recommendation. Ridley said it was important that members of the public contact their representatives before Wednesday night’s meeting.
East Dallas resident Olive Talley is worried about Wednesday’s decision.
Last week, Talley spoke with The Dallas Express voicing concern about the upcoming vote and the possible loss of “all single-family zoning in the city.”
“I believe in strong private property rights, but that has to include the rights of the neighbors,” she said.
“I don’t see how single-family neighborhoods should include commercial hotels,” she told The Dallas Express.
As a member of the City Plan Commission, Kingston has worked to protect single-family homeowners like Talley who worry about the damaging effects on neighborhood security, home prices, and housing availability.
“We are in a housing crisis. And if you take anywhere from 3 to 5, 8,000 units of housing, depending on where you get your numbers, turn it into lodging, which we have an abundance of, then you are creating or exacerbating our already terrible housing problem,” said Kingston, per Fox News.
Fox requested an interview with the director of PUD so she could explain the department’s recommendation, but a spokesperson for the City denied the request and said to check back after the vote.
PUD also did not respond to The Dallas Express’ request for comment by the time of publishing.
