In a split vote on Monday, Lewisville City Council members enacted a one-year ban on short-term rentals while officials consider how to regulate the industry.

“Data tells us what you may have seen on TV,” Council Member Ronni Cade said, according to WFAA. “It’s not happening here. What’s happening here is nuisance calls — trash, noise, parking. We’ve not rolled up on one big house party. Not in Lewisville. That’s a fact.”

The ban does not apply to existing short-term rentals in Lewisville.

“The proposed amendments add a section to the Unified Development Code (UDC) that will need to be removed once the permitting process is set up and the Council is comfortable with the regulations and enforcement,” a city document shows. “This section prohibits the establishment of new STRs as a zoning violation. Existing SRTs may continue as legal non-conforming uses, subject to all the requirements of non-conforming uses in the UDC.”

WFAA reported council members voted 4-3 to adopt an ordinance banning the use of short-term rentals for a year.

“After extensive public input and research on issues related to short-term rentals (STRs), on January 8, 2024, the City Council adopted regulations into Volume 1 of the Lewisville City Code, known as the Code of Ordinances, that will go into effect on July 8, 2024,” according to the city document. “These regulations include a permitting process and fee, inspections, operational requirements, and a process for revoking permits.”

The regulations also create “a limited parking zone” that can be used across the city “regardless of the presence of a STR and clarifies the remittance and audit of hotel occupancy taxes for STRs.”

Whether short-term rentals are appropriate in single-family districts in Texas municipalities and how — or if — they can be regulated locally has been debated for years, including in Dallas, where a judge last year said that officials could not enforce a ban on STRs because they violate property owners’ rights.

Meanwhile, in Lewisville, council members directed staff to enforce a ban “until the permitting process can be established and the impact of STRs and the permitting process is better understood.”

Generally, short-term rentals are defined as properties where tenants live for no more than 30 days. Vrbo and Airbnb often fall into that category, although renters who use such services may stay longer. Some property owners who list their homes for rent on Airbnb, for example, live on-site and rent out part of their homes to tenants. Others do not live on-site but own and rent out the entire property for periods ranging from a night to two weeks.

Under Texas law, property owners who use their homes for short-term rentals must collect hotel occupancy taxes and remit those collections the same way as proprietors of hotels or bed and breakfasts.

In Plano, officials are also considering how to regulate short-term rentals.

“City Council directed initiative to seek information and solutions on how to address nuisance issues and concerns of citizens,” Plano director of planning Christina Day wrote in a report. “The Task Force will meet … on February 28. Staff hopes to begin drafting potential ordinance amendments based on feedback from the January meeting.”

Members of Plano’s “Short-Term Rental Task Force” have met several times since June to discuss complaints about short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods and possible solutions. The Plano City Council is not expected to implement “operational changes” before July.