Thank you for your continued support! At the Oct 15 city council meeting there were approximately 450 people that registered online in the city hall registry system against new burdensome short term rental regulations and only about 50 people that signed up in support. There is clearly only a small number of people city wide that support banning short term rentals. Your support and help stopped some of the worst requirements from passing the city council like requiring ADA compliance in short term rentals, which would have been no difference than a ban on short term rentals in Austin. What happened on Thursday Oct 15th? - An amendment that any newly built garage apartment/accessory dwelling unit can not be used for more than 30 days a year as a short term rental whether Type 1, Type 1A, Type 2, or Type 3. - An amendment that bans any newly built garage apartment/accessory dwelling unit from being registered as a Type 2 short term rental. - An amendment would make sure that STR licenses are denied a new license or license renewal if they have had violations within 2 years. - An amendment to the fee ordinance to create a tiered fee structure for STR licenses based on which types require more code enforcement funding. The fee structure is to be determined. - An amendment to have a phased-in process to limit Type 2 STRs to commercially zoned areas and to require a conditional use permit or options for those in residential areas. This amendment passed on a 6-5 vote with Mayor Adler and Council Members Casar, Troxclair, Zimmerman and Gallo opposing. Austin currently allows Bed and Breakfast, family homes or Class 1 Limited Group Homes to operate in residential zoning without the need for conditional use permits. This amendment would also have a negative impact on the short-term rental owners who are operating in compliance to code and are not the "party houses" causing the problems. This would begin the process to have neighborhood associations have the final say whether you are allowed to short term rental your property. What's next? Unfortunately, the city council has again delayed final passage on some of the worst restrictions. The requirement that someone have a conditional use permit will go to another committee to determine how that would work before returning to the city council in the near future. There's a timeline below on what we know will happen right now. October 20, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. Planning Commission Codes and Ordinances Subcommittee City Hall – Room # 1027 301 W. 2nd Street, Austin, TX 78701 - If you can attend the Oct 20 meeting, that would help, but if you have limited time, it would be best to attend later meetings that might have a bigger impact. - The committee will vote to approve the following draft changes that were voted on at an earlier city council meeting. The new requirements from the Oct 15th meeting are not currently on the agenda to be discussed. Items being discussed include the requirement that code enforcement be allowed to inspect your home and make you come up to code with what they deem necessary that could cost you thousands of dollars to comply with, requiring inspections of your home, suspension of all new Type 2 STR licenses, requiring you to provide "any other information requested by the director" to keep your license, require you to keep a guest registry that the city can access at any time, banning Type 2 STRs from being within 1,000 feet from any other Type 2 STR, reduced occupancy limits, among others. - After this meeting the Codes and Ordinances Subcommittee recommendations will go to the full Planning Commission to be voted on, then the ordinance will go back to the full city council again for final approval. - The documents below show the exact language of the items coming up at this meeting. Agenda: http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=241174 Document 1: http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=241176 Document 2: http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=241175 November 12, 2015, 4:00 p.m. at Austin City Hall, 301 W. Second St., Austin, TX) - A public hearing to hear public testimony on suspending the issuance of new short-term rental Type 2 licenses. What can you do to help now? - We'll be posting action items on how to help soon.