As thousands arrive for NFL Draft, can Arlington find a way to regulate Airbnb, VRBO?

The NFL Draft is expected to bring between 250,000 and 300,000 fans over three days to AT&T Stadium and many of those visitors are coming from afar.

Hotel bookings are up 23 percent over the same time a year ago, according to the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau, but some will likely choose to stay in vacation rentals such as Airbnb or VRBO.

As of Tuesday, Airbnb spokeswoman Laura Rillos said there will be 665 Airbnb guests arriving in Arlington Thursday through Saturday, a 14 percent increase over surrounding weekends. It is also bigger than a Dallas Cowboy game with Airbnb saying its the busiest weekend in Arlington in the past 12 months.

Most of the guests are from Texas, with the top three origin cities of Houston, Austin and Odessa.

North Arlington resident Kay Ashton is bracing for another onslaught of out-of-towners down the street at an Airbnb rental that lists seven bedrooms, 14 beds and can handle up to 16 guests. An online search shows the house is booked Thursday through Saturday night, just a few miles away from where the draft will be taking place..

"What kind of guests do you get when you can rent the place for $325 a night and handle up to 16 people?" Ashton asked. "The owner divided up four bedrooms into seven to handle more people. We've had guys putting their clothes out on the grass to dry and we had to call the cops a couple of weeks ago because they had cars parked on the front lawn."

Ashton's concerns are shared by others and have caught the attention of the Arlington City Council, which on Tuesday wrestled with what to do about short-term rentals and whether some type of regulation is needed.

Short-term rentals have also emerged as a campaign issue for city council candidates in the May 5 election.

Typically, the Arlington City Council, reaches a consensus fairly quickly, but while all council members agreed something needed to be done, there was no agreement on how to regulate the booming industry.

District 1 City Councilman Charlie Parker, who represents north Arlington and the entertainment district, said a series of town hall meetings and a citizen survey provided a clear mandate to the City Council that residents don't want a vacation rental next to their home.

"I believe if you look at the results of the survey, your constituents don't want one next to them," Parker said.

Parker reminded his fellow council members that he has seen party houses on Texas-OU weekend and unruly guests that had to be "tazed" at 3 a.m. by police.

His recommendation was to tie vacation rentals to a homestead exemption. If it was a primary residence, a homeowner can rent it out but it would allow neighbors someone to contact if problems arose. The homestead exemption could also be pulled if it became a vacation rental chronically posed problems for neighbors.

Some of Parker's fellow council members weren't so sure..

"This is one of the hardest decisions we've ever made and this is the first time we've talked about it," said District 4 councilman Kathryn Wilemon who asked for more time to study issue.

Parker, who first brought up the issue five years ago, is not seeking re-election and has made it a priority to get some type of vacation rentals in place before he leaves office.

As a result, the council may call a special meeting next week to hash out vacation rental rules before the next regularly scheduled meeting on May 8.

After the meeting. Mayor Jeff Williams said he expects a meeting will take place next week. Part of the delay was caused by concerns that legislators would strip cities of their ability to regulate the industry last year, Williams said.

The survey says ...

The city conducted four town hall meetings in January that garnered 1,055 responses on a survey. Of those, 53 percent have never stayed at vacation rental while 39 percent have stayed in one as a guest and 61 people in the survey said they have been a host. Those who said they were hosts said "making more money than long-term renting" and "helping pay my bills" were their motivation.

Ashton said it's clear some type of regulation is needed.

"If they would restrict the parking and the amount of people and how many you can have in one block, that would make me happy," Ashton said.

The city defines a short-term rental, also called a vacation rental, as a dwelling rented out 30 days or less.

The city's survey by Host Compliance found there were 284 unique properties but 409 vacation rental listings (meaning some were shown on multiple sites) in the city, mostly in north Arlington and the entertainment district. The entertainment district includes AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Park and Six Flags Over Texas. But vacation rentals were present throughout the city.

Quality of life was a big issue among residents, with party houses and noise considered two of the biggest concerns. Traffic and garbage were also listed as problems.

About 60 percent of the respondents believe vacation rentals should be on a level playing field with hotels and bed & breakfasts by following the similar zoning requirements and safety inspections as well as paying the same taxes.

It is not clear what rules could potentially make it into a new ordinance.

Among the considerations

• Permit vacation rentals where the primary resident does not live the property is used solely as a rental.
  
  
• Allow home-sharing in which the resident of the property lives on-site while a guest stays there.
  
  
• Permit "un-hosted home sharing" where the primary resident lives there but is allowed to rent out the property for up to 90 days a year where the resident is not present during the stay.
  
  
• Adopt narrowly tailored regulations that require a permit.
  
  
• Require a local contact representative or property management company that is available 24 hours a day.
  
  
• Require guest to receive a good neighbor brochure.
  
  
• Provide penalties for vacation rentals that don't follow the rules, including permit denial/revocation/suspension.
  
  
• Require notification of a vacation rental permit being issued to adjoining property owners.
  
  
• Provide off-street parking restrictions.
  
  
• Require written notifications of restrictions
  
  
• Maximum occupancy limits.
  
  
• Prohibit exterior signage.
  
  
• Prohibit use of sound equipment that produces sound audible beyond property line during restricted hours.
  
  
• Prohibit social or commercial events.
  
  
• Utilize third-party vendor to provide 24/7 complaint hotline and complaint form.
  
  
• Set caps on the number of vacation rentals allowed.
  
  
• Set caps on the number of of "un-hosted" or "hosted" night per year a a dwelling can be used as a vacation rental.
  
  
• Adopt restrictions that prevent the physical conversion of a residential housing to transient use.
  
  

Willing to work with Arlington

Rillos, the Airbnb spokeswoman, said the company collects the Texas State Hotel Occupancy Tax and remits it directly to the state. Airbnb has similar partnerships with 400 jurisdictions around the world "and we are willing to reach one with the City of Arlington," RIllos said.

Currently, only 35 vacation rentals are paying hotel occupancy taxes in Arlington, city staff said.

The City Council was shown how three other cities regulate vacation rentals: Santa Monica, Calif, favors a restrictive policy; Austin goes with a permissive policy; and Pasadena, Calif, goes with a balanced policy.

District 6 council member Robert Shephard said the property rights of owners needs to be respected and that anyone wanting to rent out their home should be allowed to do so. The city doesn't need to rush into a flawed ordinance that the City Council would be required to come back and constantly modify, Shephard said.

Ashton, the north Arlington resident with a vacation rental nearby, likes the ordinance in Galveston, which requires an annual registration fee, minimum standards of conduct and filing a hotel occupancy tax collection report.

"We don't want an overly restricted ordinance that can't be enforced," Ashton said. "We want something that will make a difference in our neighborhood."

Bill Hanna: 817-390-7698, @fwhanna

This story was originally published April 25, 2018 at 9:56 AM with the headline "As thousands arrive for NFL Draft, can Arlington find a way to regulate Airbnb, VRBO?."