All Forum Posts by: Dito Calderon

@John Fider - Did you ever receive anything in response to this? Would love to see an example form or anything that you found. Thanks!

Sharing another update after the planning board meeting on April 1st.  

The planning board has finalized the drafts that they will take a public vote on during their April 15th meeting.  This is a public forum to vote on the proposed text.  This vote is whether they will send this proposal up to the county commissioners who are the only one who can actually vote something into effect. 

A few key points / takeaways from my perspective:

1. The timeline is very unclear on what happens after April 22nd.  It could be fast tracked or it could take 6+ months as government stuff normally does.  There is no timeline or even whispers that I have heard on what this looks like.  

2. All existing STRs with 2 days rented in the last year will be granted legal non-conforming status.  The status of legal non-conforming will carry on with the property even through a deed transfer.  They originally wanted to phase out STRs with deed transfer, but the complexity and lawsuit risk of that verbiage had them change to this.  In other words, STRs can remain and can be sold to other investors in the future

3. There were some changes to the verbiage allowing STRs under certain conditions in the Open Use zoning district which was a big point of contention in previous hearings.  It is still quite restrictive IMO and would not allow for many STRs but some to be added to the local market. 

4. There were comments by 2-3 of the 7 planning board folks commenting on the speed of pushing this through and not understanding the relative priority or urgency of this specific topic.  A few of them also mentioned that they don't really expect this to affect the housing affordability in the county, but do believe that STRs can affect the quality and integrity of the neighborhoods in the county which they want to preserve.  

Here is where you can find the recording (1.5 hours) of the planning board meeting: https://fb.watch/rcVsDnzZAW/

Here is where you can find the meeting notes from that session: https://engage.buncombecounty.org/B67643

Hope that helps anyone else following along with this discussion!

Dito

Here to update the thread.  The proposed timeline (by the planning committee, not the commissioners who would vote it into effect) was shared at the end of the March 4th discussion.  Here are the dates proposed.  

March 18th public comment (already passed)

April 1 final working session to finalize the proposed language

April 22nd public hearing where they will vote on the proposal

TBD dates - sent to commissioners for review and public hearing to vote on the proposal. 

This cannot get passed through until the commissioners review and choose to vote on the bill.  The entire timeline is hazy since those dates have not come into focus yet.  

A majority of the sentiment from the listening session on the 18th was in favor of STRs and there were a lot of people who shared personal stories of their rentals or their business which support their life, family, and future retirement of inheritance for their families. 

Hope that helps anyone else if you're following along or interested in these discussions. 

Thanks, Mitch!

Has anyone heard updated news from the last couple of meetings on this topic re: timing?  I'm under contract and am curious to know if I would be able to get closed and operating with a permit to be grandfathered in before regulations kick in.

Eimile - are you talking about Host GPO or Minoan? Those are both places you can get a lot of STR supplies from soaps through to furniture at trade discounts.

@Lucia Rushton - I sent you a message - thanks in advance!

@Mo Karim - Thanks for the recommendation.  They look great!

Hello! Does anyone have a trusted home inspector they recommend in the Dallas area?  Thanks in advance!