Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY — Following much discussion on the topic during its Nov. 6 meeting, Wimberley City Council was split on adopting a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, process and approval of short term rental (STR) applications that require a conditional use permit (CUP).
The item came about as council’s position on the applications has seemed to be inconsistent, according to council member Rebecca Minnick, who requested it be on the agenda. She continued, stating that there is not a policy in place in commercial areas and the applications are being considered in an infrequent manner.
“We have citizens who are concerned about it. We have areas where there seems to be a large number of [STRs] or a high demand for those and also, areas that they’re really not appropriate,” she said. “So, I thought it would be better to put a pause on everything, get this committee together and hash out all of these issues in conjunction with a planner from our law firm, so that we could have a very consistent approach that would be more easily understood by applicants, residents here [and] property owners just to set expectations and everybody get on the same page.”
According to Minnick, the best approach would be to implement the temporary moratorium for 120 days due to the upcoming holiday season, which would make it difficult for people to get together. She said that there needs to be a review process with a committee — which she is looking at creating related to STRs — to make real recommendations to the city council.
She explained that she wanted the 120 days to go into effect immediately; however, council member David Cohen shared several concerns on the timing not giving people enough notice.
He stated that if the moratorium were to go into effect immediately, then people who had or were making plans to buy property for the purpose of making STRs would suddenly find themselves unable to do that because they are given “no notice other than they are basically told, ‘stop.’ I mean, it seems to me that you’ve got to give people notice.”
Cohen suggested giving people at least a 30-day notice before the temporary moratorium would begin.
“Every property in our city limits requires a conditional use permit for short term rental and I tell them that it is not guaranteed, so I tell them not to make business decisions based on what they think the outcome of city council is going to be,” added Nathan Glasier, director of development services.
Minnick asked Glasier the timeframe of how long it takes for an application to go from the first time they talk to his department to council for consideration. He said at least 30 days because he has to put out notifications, etc., but it could go up to 45 days depending on scheduling.
“If you did like 30 days, that would be 30 days to accept applications and then, all of these would come before you in December or January,” Glasier said.
From a due process standpoint, Cohen said, it’s not appropriate to impose a moratorium on anything without giving notice that it is going to go into effect.
“People are entitled to fair notice before their property is being affected and we are putting in, without any notice, an immediate moratorium on short term rentals,” he said. “I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
He continued to state that he is worried about the public’s perception, as they will be upset when they find themselves shut out “without any notice,” and that he does not understand the reluctance to give them notice.
“I think, essentially, this is notice,” Minnick responded. “They’re not entitled to get this permit, so they have to go through a process to get the permit.”
Cohen then asked what the harm would be to give a 30-day notice, whether it’s going to have an effect or not.
Minnick said that, to her, it does not make sense because an application would not get through in 30 days; council member Chris Sheffield agreed and said that is not enough time to get the permit through.
To that point, Cohen suggested increasing it to a 45-day notice.
“It’s true that some people could be upset, but it’s only going to be the three people who would have liked to get a CUP request in during this time and I think some people are saying that we should stop and take a look at it,” Sheffield said.
After more discussion, Wimberley City Council voted 3-1 — with Cohen dissenting — to adopt the temporary moratorium, going into effect immediately, for 120 days.
To listen to the full discussion, visit www.wimberleytx.portal.civicclerk.com.
