STRs - How to Help

1

For anyone interested in helping with the STR effort, the following could really help. Please join the Facebook group and follow on twitter because council members are paying attention to social media numbers.

STR Facebook Group:

RSVP to the city council meeting this Thursday here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1481122765524793/

Follow on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/atxstrs

Comment on the Statesman Op-ed “Crusade against short term rentals is misinformed” article if you have a statesman account:

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/opinion/gilcrease-crusade-against-short-term-rentals-is-mi/nn2Yy/

Emailing city council members would also help greatly.
https://www.austintexas.gov/email/all-council-members

3

Pete,

Regret I missed the first notice. By virtue of having a NA registered with COA, I did get paper notice of a City Council public hearing coming up November 12th, where they will consider public comments on this issue. Could you please kindly provide updated recommendations on those inclined to voice an opinion?

4

Thank you for asking! The next and probably last really important thing to help out with would be to attend the Nov 12th city council meeting. I believe it’ll be the last time that the city council takes any public comments/input on short term rentals. I’ll be posting an Event on the Facebook group that’ll provide updates for the day at the link below.

5

Austin Business Journal: Austin may suspend permitting for some HomeAway, Airbnb users
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2015/10/29/austin-may-suspend-permitting-for-some-homeaway.html

6

Please email all council members today and tell them to oppose the current language of the draft ordinance being voted on Thursday regarding Type 2 STR licenses for the following reasons. The new changes are supposed to temporarily suspend only new Type 2 STR licenses for 1 year, but this appears to go beyond that.

  1. The draft language removes Type 2 short term rentals as an allowed use in residential zoning and a temporary suspension does not require this change. If the use is not an allowed use in the zoning, then existing Type 2 STRs may not be able to renew their licenses.

  2. There is no sunset provision for the suspension of new licenses, meaning this is not a temporary suspension and instead a permanent ban. The city council often includes in ordinances that they will come back within a certain time period to reconsider a part of an ordinance and that often never happens. The only way to make sure that this is a temporary suspension and not a permanent ban is to sunset the suspension and require the city council to revote to keep the suspension in place after the year has ended.

Here’s the information on what’s being voted on regarding Type 2 STR licenses:

http://austin.siretechnologies.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=951&doctype=agenda&itemid=51601

Here are their email addresses:

steve.adler@austintexas.gov
ora.houston@austintexas.gov
delia.garza@austintexas.gov
sabino.renteria@austintexas.gov
gregorio.casar@austintexas.gov
ann.kitchen@austintexas.gov
don.zimmerman@austintexas.gov
leslie.pool@austintexas.gov
ellen.troxclair@austintexas.gov
kathie.tovo@austintexas.gov
sheri.gallo@austintexas.gov

7

Small Victory - You Made a Difference Yesterday, Now More To Do

Your emails, phone calls, and in-person testimony made a huge difference yesterday. The original ordinance language for the temporary suspension of new Type 2 STR licenses coming up for a vote yesterday might have permanently banned existing Type 2 STR owners from continuing to renew their licenses for their STRs. Because of your help, the city council amended the ordinance to remove all of the unnecessary language and made it a true temporary suspension of new Type 2 STR licenses with a clear expiration date, meaning that the ordinance will expire unless the city council votes specifically to extend it in the future.

Council Member Tovo was the only Council Member that voted against clearing up the language that might have banned existing Type 2 STR owners from renewing their licenses. Council Member Pool abstained from the vote.

The city council did pass the temporary suspension on issuing new Type 2 STR licenses until March 31, 2017, which was a huge loss to those that are in the process of getting a license or were hoping to get a license in this next year, but the outcome from last night was better than expected overall.

The temporary suspension of new Type 2 licenses was unfortunately extended for more than a year until March 31, 2017, despite the fact we were told this would not be any longer than 1 year during the entire process. Council Members Gallo and Troxclair were the only Council Members that voted with short term rental owners and against extending the suspension for more than a year.

Council Member Garza added language that would make sure that anyone that put in an application for a Type 2 STR license before Sept 18th would be allowed to continue through the process and get their license - even though there’s a 1 to 2 month backlog. Council Member Troxclair attempted to extend this protection until Nov 13th and was only joined by Council Member Gallo to vote for this further protection.

There is still more to do! There are some key meeting dates below that everyone should attend. If you can’t attend, there will be opportunities to email in your position, but in-person testimony is recommended. All other new rules and regulations that have been passed by the City Council are being drafted before going back to the City Council for the final vote (occupancy limits, neighbors being allowed to submit evidence against you, required random inspections of your home, increase of license fees, requiring conditional use permits, requiring a guest registry, requiring added parking, requiring some STRs to be 1000 feet from others, etc). Almost all of these potential new rules impact ALL STR types and could make it hard or potentially impossible for you to maintain a license. You have the opportunity to help draft or change the language by attending the meetings below. These should be the final 3 meetings where everything else is finally decided.

Nov 17th - Planning Commission Subcommittee - 6 pm
RSVP For Updates: https://www.facebook.com/events/705961402838492/

December 8 - Full Planning Commission - 6 pm
RSVP For Updates: https://www.facebook.com/events/1645324572388952/

December 10th - Full City Council Meeting - Time to Be Announced
RSVP For Updates: https://www.facebook.com/events/462289807312566/

8

Please Send The Following Prewritten Email Today - Takes 1 Minute! (Or Write Your Own!)

Below is a sample email, the sample subject of the email, and the email addresses to send the email to. Feel free to write your own email, make changes to this one, or just simply send the one below. Personal stories are already great to include. Whatever is easiest for you! We just need emails sent.

The Planning Commission Subcommittee is meeting Tuesday November 17th at 6 pm. Attending this meeting is important to help keep short term rentals legal in Austin.

RSVP to the meeting:

To:

bc-Stephen.Oliver@austintexas.gov
bc-Fayez.Kazi@austintexas.gov
bc-Tom.Nuckols@austintexas.gov
bc-James.Schissler@austintexas.gov
bc-Patricia.Seeger@austintexas.gov
bc-James.Shieh@austintexas.gov
bc-Jean.Stevens@austintexas.gov
bc-Jeffrey.Thompson@austintexas.gov
bc-Jose.Vela@austintexas.gov
bc-Trinity.White@austintexas.gov
bc-Michael.Wilson@austintexas.gov
bc-nuria.zaragoza@austintexas.gov

Subject: Please Oppose Short Term Rental Regulations That Punish Good Owners

Dear Planning Commissioner,

Please oppose any new rules and regulations that punishes good short term rental owners.

  • Requiring random inspections of people’s homes and their properties is an invasion of privacy and constitutional search and seizure protections. Short term rentals already have to provide a certificate of occupancy or get a third party inspection to get a license. Independent third party inspections to get a license allows owners to get the inspection and come up to code on issues found without inviting code enforcement into their homes, which can be intimidating.

  • Banning short term rentals from residential areas has nothing to do with enforcement and only harms good short term rentals owners. Short term rentals are and have always been a residential use in Austin (STRs Are a Residential Use (Not Commercial)).

  • Allowing eyewitness accounts to be used as evidence in administrative hearings for violations encourages abuse by anti-STR activists against good STR owners.

  • Requiring a conditional use permit, board of adjustments approval, a waiver, or any other neighborhood approval will only allow anti-STR activists a way to deny good short term rental owners a license. Conditional use permits can take years and can cost thousands of dollars to obtain. Please oppose anything that allows good short term rental owners to be denied a license by a vocal minority in our neighborhoods. Getting a license should be fair, easy, and not encourage a process that pits neighbor against neighbor.

  • Requiring an arbitrary 1000 feet between short term rentals preemptively bans good short term rentals without any reason or cause. There is already a strict limit based on census tracts that is fair, makes sure there can not be many short term rentals in any one given area, and provides everyone an equal chance at a license. We should be focused on enforcement and not banning good owners.

  • Requiring a guest registry will do nothing to help with enforcement. It will simply make it difficult to maintain a license and violate the privacy of guests and owners.

  • Any new regulations that could result in the loss or suspension of an STR license should be directly related to the use of a short term rental. Adding additional ways for someone to lose their license only allows for abuse by anti-STR activists to get good owner’s licenses suspended or revoked for other issues that have nothing to do with short term rentals.

  • Increasing license fees on short term rentals only makes maintaining a license harder for those that want to be licensed and follow the rules. License fees should be fair and not a way to punish those that have licenses and want to follow all of the rules.

Fair regulation of short term rentals ensures greater compliance and greater receipt of local hotel taxes. Onerous regulations of short-term rentals can drive the industry underground, thus evading local regulations and local hotel taxes. Please focus on enforcement instead of unnecessary bans.

Sincerely,

9

I’ve included the latest draft of what’s going before the Planning Commission subcommittee tomorrow below. Apparently, one of the changes is making it illegal to have another Type 2 STR 1000 feet from ANY other STR (not just Type 2 STRs, but any type of STR), which would result in almost a complete ban on new licenses, even if they started allowing new licenses in the future.

There are a lot of other things in the draft, like requiring any STR type to let code enforcement into their home without reason or cause at any time and without notice. If you want to rent your home out for one time of year during SXSW, you’ll have to let code enforcement into your home whenever they want during the rest of the year.

http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=242714

10

Please Send The Following Prewritten Email Today - Takes 1 Minute! (Or Write Your Own!)

There are two email versions below. One for STR owners and one for STR supporters.

Please remove the line “(Tell your personal story about why you share your home here)” in the email if you aren’t putting in your own personal story.

Feel free to write your own email, make changes to this one, or just simply send the one below. Personal stories are already great to include. Whatever is easiest for you! We just need emails sent.

Attending the following meetings is also important to help keep short term rentals legal in Austin.

Dec 8 - Planning Commission Meeting Information (RSVP):

Dec 10 - City Council Meeting Information (RSVP):

If you have additional time, please call your council representative (or all of them if possible). Click on their picture in the link below to find their phone information.

https://www.austintexas.gov/government

To: (emails are exactly as shown below)

steve.adler@austintexas.gov
ora.houston@austintexas.gov
delia.garza@austintexas.gov
sabino.renteria@austintexas.gov
gregorio.casar@austintexas.gov
ann.kitchen@austintexas.gov
don.zimmerman@austintexas.gov
leslie.pool@austintexas.gov
ellen.troxclair@austintexas.gov
kathie.tovo@austintexas.gov
sheri.gallo@austintexas.gov
bc-Stephen.Oliver@austintexas.gov
bc-Fayez.Kazi@austintexas.gov
bc-Tom.Nuckols@austintexas.gov
bc-James.Schissler@austintexas.gov
bc-Patricia.Seeger@austintexas.gov
bc-James.Shieh@austintexas.gov
bc-Jean.Stevens@austintexas.gov
bc-Jeffrey.Thompson@austintexas.gov
bc-Jose.Vela@austintexas.gov
bc-Trinity.White@austintexas.gov
bc-Michael.Wilson@austintexas.gov
bc-nuria.zaragoza@austintexas.gov

For STR Owners

Hello,

I am writing in regard to the Short Term Rental proposal that is under consideration by the City Council.

As a voting citizen of Austin, I want to see the Council say YES to better enforcement and to say NO to more unenforceable Rules.

Here’s why:

As an STR owner, I have been very disappointed in the ongoing lack of enforcement of code and license violations since the current STR ordinance was enacted.

(Tell your personal story about why you share your home here)

I am proud of what I do. We serve families, grandparents visiting grandkids, educators, business travelers, prospective residents, performers and also local residents with emergency needs with a clean, comfortable home away from home. All guests are screened and I do not rent to party groups.

I am not an absentee owner. My property is well maintained and my service is well regarded—the proof is in the reviews that are posted online. I should also mention that I get along well with my neighbors and they enjoy meeting the people who stay at my property.

STR owners need to be heard, too.

Specifically, please do not allow the city to revoke an STR license for any reason.

Please ensure the language on occupancy limits is written per unit and NOT per site. As written, any lot with multiple units is only allowed 6 people total. This bans all existing duplexes or two homes on the same property.

Please ensure that code inspectors are not allowed to enter my property without my permission. Random inspections for STRs are a violation of privacy. STRs are homes that we live in, not businesses we leave at the end of the day.

Please do not ban upstanding short term rental owners through arbitrary distance requirements or end dates for certain licenses. Better enforcement takes care of problem properties and doesn’t take away the rights of good actors.

Say YES to better enforcement and say NO to more unenforceable rules!

Thank you for your consideration and thank you for listening.

Respectfully yours,

For STR Supporters

Hello,

I am writing in regard to the Short Term Rental proposal that is under consideration by the City Council.

I want to see the Council say YES to better enforcement and to say NO to more unenforceable Rules.

Here’s why:

As an STR supporter, I have been very disappointed in the ongoing lack of enforcement of code and license violations since the current STR ordinance was enacted.

Short term rentals serve families, grandparents visiting grandkids, educators, business travelers, prospective residents, performers and also local residents with emergency needs with a clean, comfortable home away from home.

STR supporters need to be heard, too.

Specifically, please do not allow the city to revoke an STR license for any reason.

Please ensure the language on occupancy limits is written per unit and NOT per site. As written, any lot with multiple units is only allowed 6 people total. This bans all existing duplexes or two homes on the same property.

Please ensure that code inspectors are not allowed to enter properties without the owners permission. Random inspections for STRs are a violation of owner and guest privacy.

Please do not ban upstanding short term rental owners through arbitrary distance requirements or end dates for certain licenses. Better enforcement takes care of problem properties and doesn’t take away the rights of good actors.

Say YES to better enforcement and say NO to more unenforceable rules!

Thank you for your consideration and thank you for listening.

Respectfully yours,

11

Please Email City Council Today - Ask To Postpone STR Item Tomorrow (PreWritten Takes 1 Minute!)

Please email the city council and ask them to postpone the short term rental discussion that’s scheduled to be voted on tomorrow. A postponement will allow more time for discussion and for them to know more about what exactly is being voted on and how these new regulations will impact good STRs.

Feel free to write your own email, make changes to this one, or just simply send the one below. Personal stories are already great to include. Whatever is easiest for you! We just need emails sent!

There are two email versions below. One for STR owners and one for STR supporters.

==========
To: (emails are exactly as shown below)

steve.adler@austintexas.gov
ora.houston@austintexas.gov
delia.garza@austintexas.gov
sabino.renteria@austintexas.gov
gregorio.casar@austintexas.gov
ann.kitchen@austintexas.gov
don.zimmerman@austintexas.gov
leslie.pool@austintexas.gov
ellen.troxclair@austintexas.gov
kathie.tovo@austintexas.gov
sheri.gallo@austintexas.gov
austinitesforshorttermrentals@gmail.com

==========
Subject: Please Postpone STR Item At City Council Dec 10th

==========
STR Owner

Dear Council Member,

I am a responsible STR owner and I am writing in regards to the Short Term Rental proposal that is under consideration by the City Council.

As a voting citizen of Austin, I want to see the City Council postpone this item to allow for more thoughtful deliberation on the proposed code changes.

As an STR owner, I have been very disappointed in the ongoing lack of enforcement of code and license violations since the current STR ordinance was enacted.

The entire process of creating new STR regulations started because of the need to limit “party houses,” which it turned out are only a few properties and not representative of nearly all STRs in Austin. Unfortunately, some of the new regulations being discussed will harm good STR owners, their families, and all Austinites that use STRs as their temporary homes during remodels and emergencies. Now that the city has put a temporary moratorium on issuing new Type 2 STR licenses, I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t give code enforcement time to show that enforcement is working to prevent the few problem properties without adding onerous rules that harm good owners.

Please delay these rule changes to allow more responsible hosts and Austinites supportive of STRs to have a say in the process, and please say YES to better enforcement and say NO to more unenforceable rules!

Thank you for your consideration and thank you for listening.

==========
STR Supporter

Dear Council Member,

I am writing in regards to the Short Term Rental proposal that is under consideration by the City Council.

I want to see the City Council postpone this item to allow for more thoughtful deliberation on the proposed code changes.

I have been very disappointed in the ongoing lack of enforcement of code and license violations since the current STR ordinance was enacted.

The entire process of creating new STR regulations started because of the need to limit “party houses,” which it turned out are only a few properties and not representative of nearly all STRs in Austin. Unfortunately, some of the new regulations being discussed will harm good STR owners, their families, and all Austinites that use STRs as their temporary homes during remodels and emergencies. Now that the city has put a temporary moratorium on issuing new Type 2 STR licenses, I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t give code enforcement time to show that enforcement is working to prevent the few problem properties without adding onerous rules that harm good owners.

Please delay these rule changes to allow more responsible hosts and Austinites supportive of STRs to have a say in the process, and please say YES to better enforcement and say NO to more unenforceable rules!

Thank you for your consideration and thank you for listening.