Bellaire continues to explore ways to restrict or ban homeowners from renting out their property on a short-term basis.
However, the city did not come to an agreement on how they would do it during Monday's city council meeting.
At least two council members expressed their belief that short-term rentals subtract from Bellaire being a “city of homes,” and argued residents shouldn’t have to live next to a “hotel.” Meanwhile other council members said the ordinance infringe on property rights and could cause legal issues for the city.
The proposed ordinance claims that, “short term rentals pose certain adverse externalities on neighbors not generally created by long term rentals due to the nature of temporary, transient guests,” and that, “absentee owners lack the same level of commitment to the neighborhood and the community as resident owners.”
After public comments and deliberations on Aug. 2, the council voted to table the proposed ordinance until they can come up with a compromise that would allow the city to have more power over short-term rentals without restricting a homeowner’s property rights.
The ordinance was originally proposed at the city's May 17 meeting by council members Jim Hotze and Catherine Lewis after hearing complaints from residents about the tenants of the short-term rentals. Residents have complained about noise, trash, pets, and the general disturbances they bring to Bellaire’s predominately residential neighborhoods.
“The citizens of Bellaire deserve to not have a hotel next to them,” said Hotze. “They deserve to have neighbors that are invested more than 24 or 48 hours.”
Councilmember Neil Virma spoke out against the proposed ordinance, saying it would create legal problems for the city and would not solve all of the noise issues residents have complaints about. Hotze said that if the city is sued because of the ordinance, the council at the time should be the ones to decide how to respond, instead of the current council making that decision for them.
It’s not 'let’s go ahead and ban it and then next week when we get sued, we pull the ban two weeks from now.' That’s not creative leadership,” said Virma at the Aug. 2 meeting.
Resident Jamie Perkins, who also spoke at the city’s May meeting , spoke again on Monday night in support of the ordinance. Perkins claimed the ordinance is about the “appropriateness of the location of the short-term rentals.”
“The city of Bellaire, let’s face it, it’s not a tourist destination,” said Perkins, who argued that if somebody wants to rent a home in or near Houston on a short-term basis there are better places to do it. This isn’t an attack on Airbnb or VRBO, this is simply not allowing it in our small, tiny, very close-knit city,” said Perkins.
Resident Felix Rhymes argued the problems with noise and neighborhood disturbances go beyond short-term rentals as he has lived next to long-term rentals for years and has similar problems. He noted that banning or restricting short-term rentals does not solve any problems.
“We’re not at risk of becoming a city of hotels, but we are at risk of limiting property rights. One of the basic rights of Texans,” said Rhymes.
Mayor Andrew Friedberg suggested that if the city had any empirical data that the city could use to justify the ordinance, they may become closer to finding a solution.
The council tabled the discussion without defining what the city considers the length of a short-term rental to be or how they would enforce the ordinance. All council members agreed, however, residential complaints about short-term rentals should be dealt with, and hope to tackle the problem in future meetings.
ryan.nickerson@hcnonline.com
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