Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY — Wimberley City Council extended a previously-enacted permit moratorium on short-term rentals, as well as canceled the 2026 general election, during its meeting held Thursday, March 5.
Moratorium
In November 2025, council voted 3-1 — with council member David Cohen dissenting — to adopt a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, process and approval of short-term rental (STR) applications that require a conditional use permit (CUP). This item was requested by council member Rebecca Minnick, who stated that the dais’ position on the application has seemed inconsistent and there is not a policy in place in commercial areas and the applications are being considered in an infrequent manner, as previously reported by the News-Dispatch.
“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 at the Nov. 6 meeting. “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.”
The temporary moratorium was set for 120 days, bringing it back on council’s agenda at the March 5 meeting for consideration to extend it further.
Following her previous recommendation that there needs to be a review process, Minnick shared that they have been convening an STR committee with members of the Planning & Zoning Commission, in order to bring recommendations to city council.
“The committee has some recommendations, but we want to get those into the final form and the moratorium, according to our city attorney, we can only do it for a maximum of 120 days. We couldn’t just do a forever moratorium,” she said.
She proposed to extend the temporary moratorium for another 120 days, but the committee could have something finalized as soon as the next 30 days.
“I think we’ll have something together and start working through the process within the next 30 days or so,” said Nathan Glasier, director of development services, who also sits on the committee.
“There may be some things that seem logical to do, but legally, we are not able to do those things. So, we are having to make some adjustments in terms of, for instance, we can’t say, ‘No more STRs here.’ You can’t do that, so we are working with the attorneys to get advice, so that what we do is legal and makes sense for the community,” Minnick added.
Council voted unanimously to extend the temporary moratorium for 120 days, which means it will remain in effect through July 4, unless otherwise terminated earlier by council.
Election
Also at the meeting, council voted unanimously to cancel the general election — which was set for May 2 — as all three candidates for office are unopposed. These candidates are incumbent Jim Chiles for mayor, Anne Ulfelder for Place Two and Sam Werner for Place Four on the city council.
Pursuant to the Texas Election Code, once the declaration of unopposed candidates has been delivered, the governing body must convene and vote to cancel the election and declare the unopposed candidates elected to office, according to agenda documents.
Additionally, the cancellation of the election results in an estimated cost savings of approximately $6,500.00, for the city, which had been budgeted for fiscal year 2026.
The swearing in and oath of office will occur May 11 and the candidates will officially take office at the second meeting in May, according to city secretary Tammy Heller.
Wimberley City Council meets next at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 19.
