Title
Discussion of issues related to Amending the City’s Ordinance Pertaining to Short Term Rentals.
Summary
Body:
In 2025, Council adopted a series of regulations pertaining to the short term rental of residential properties in Deer Park. These included establishing a definition of a short term rental, requiring owners to have a permit prior to renting, having owners provide proof of insurance, requiring an inspection of the property prior to rental, limiting the number of occupants, disallowing off street parking, requiring a 24 hour a day contact person, etc.
At that time, Council expressed a willingness to entirely forbid short term rentals in Deer Park, but that was believed to not be permissible in Texas. Then earlier this year, a federal appellate court upheld the City of New Braunfels’ regulations restricting short term rentals in residentially zoned neighborhoods. Given this decision, it has been requested that City Council re-visit this issue to discuss if we, also, would like to move toward elimination of short term rentals in Deer Park. If so, we further want to discuss how to phase out rentals of existing permitted properties.
Fiscal/Budgetary Impact:
To be determined.
Recommended action
Discussion only in Workshop.