At the meeting, Plano Director of Planning Christina Day discussed what steps the city has taken towards regulating short-term rentals. According to Day, back in Oct. 2022, Plano city staff was tasked with developing a similar process of regulating short-term rentals to that of Arlington.
Since then, Day said city staff has met with the city of Arlington to discuss its short-term rental process and the key differences between the two cities. One of the findings was that Arlington modeled its short-term rental process after Austin and San Antonio.
"It appeared to them that [Austin and San Antonio] were the leaders at the time they were going through their [short-term rental] process," Day said during the presentation.
In addition to meeting with Arlington, Day said city staff continued to track short-term rental data through the Plano Police Department.
According to Day, data from Plano Police Department shows that 141 calls for service were made at a total of 57 short-term rental properties in 2022. Just six properties were responsible for 58 of the calls for service, while one was responsible for 26.
"The vast majority of concerns [with short-term rental properties] are noise complaints," Day said. "That's categorized also with party, alcohol and drugs."
Bill France, head of the Plano chapter of Texas Neighborhood Coalition, has previously voiced his organization's concerns with short-term rental properties and applauded the city's recent efforts.
"Our city leaders have taken the right action to address this proliferation of short-term rentals," France said during the meeting. "Although we have a renewed sense of optimism, we will not be able to rest until the peace and tranquility of our neighborhoods are once again secure."
City staff is close to acquiring a contract to receive third-party data on short-term rentals, which will allow them to acquire more accurate data. According to Day, accurate data is difficult to acquire for short term-rentals, and it is crucial in creating an effective city plan for regulating them.
City staff plans to hold more discussions before the Planning and Zoning Commission in February.
