ARLINGTON (1080 KRLD) - The Arlington City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday afternoon on regulations for short-term rentals.
The plan would limit short term rentals to the Entertainment District and areas zoned for commercial development or apartments.
The council voted 6-3 to give preliminary approval for the plan earlier this month. Mayor Jeff Williams says the plan is a compromise to protect the property rights of people who offer short-term rentals and their neighbors.
"We are a can-do city," Mayor Jeff Williams said. "We have really been known as a city that takes pride in its unity."
The measure would require people who offer short-term rentals to get a permit and renew those permits annually.
"If there's a problem, we want to take care of it," says short-term rental supporter Brad Herbert. "We don't want to just cop out and just ban it all. That's not fair."
Herbert says Arlington's Planning and Zoning Commission has found short-term rentals account for just three of every 100-thousand houses and apartments in Arlington.
"There are wild claims that short-term rentals are taking over the neighborhoods," he says.
"The thing that is most difficult is when you have neighbors fighting against neighbors," Williams says. "That is something that just isn't the way we do here in Arlington."
Hurst and Southlake have banned short-term rentals. Grapevine was sued over its ban, and that ban is headed to trial later this year.
State lawmakers are considering two bills to regulate short-term rentals that would supersede local ordinances.