The Plano Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing regarding potential short-term rental regulations that will be presented to commissioners and potentially Plano City Council.

The commission approved a resolution to call a public hearing to consider a repeal of the interim ban on short-term rentals and approve permanent regulations or amend the city’s zoning ordinance during its March 4 meeting.

What you need to know

Plano staff compiled several recommendations after comparing regulations of about 40 other cities, according to city documents. Broadly, the potential regulations fall into four categories:

• Registration and property management requirements
• Regulations that affect land use and zoning
• Consideration of buyouts or amortization of short-term rentals
• Training for new and existing short-term rental owners

Christina Sebastian, Plano Land Records Planning manager, said the task force recommended restricting short-term rentals to zoning districts that allow hotels. Additional considerations could include updating short-term rentals as a land use and potentially restricting the number of short-term rentals within an area of the city, she added.

Digging deeper

Sebastian presented three possible designations for short-term rentals that would have varying levels of restrictions within the city.

• A one-bedroom rental, which would require the property manager to live on-site and only rent one bedroom, which would be permitted in any residence in the city
• A two- to five-bedroom rental, which would be allowed where hotels as well as bed and breakfasts are allowed while also requiring management to live on-site
• Vacation rental, which would allow entire residences to be rented out and be allowed by right in zoning districts that allow hotel and motel uses

During the data collection process, 464 short-term rental properties were identified, Sebastian said. About 129 of those properties would qualify as conforming land uses if they register with the city, per city documents.

Quote of note

“[Council] did not call this task force together to celebrate short-term rentals,” said Phil Dyer, Plano Short-Term Rental Task Force chair. “There were obviously issues in our community that we needed to work on and create the tools that the short-term rental operation in our community is respectful of everyone.”

What’s next?

The planning and zoning commission is slated to consider further options pertaining to land use and zoning during its March 18 meeting. The public hearing on an ordinance update is set to take place during the commission’s April 1 meeting.

Sebastian said regulations that apply to seasonal short-term rentals would likely be discussed as part of the March 18 planning and zoning meeting.

Council is expected to receive a staff briefing on a proposed rental registration program during its March 19 meeting with consideration of adopting a registration program planned for the April 22 meeting.