Short-term rentals have been under fire in suburbs and residential neighborhoods for years due to their lack of regulation. While residential neighborhoods are characterized by single-family homes, short-term rentals involve any number of people moving through the neighborhoods on any given day.
This tension increased this week when a fight erupted at a short-term rental in West Plano near Legacy Drive and Custer Road. The fight resulted in gunfire, with one bullet going through the window of a neighbor’s child’s playroom, bouncing off a wall and landing in their cat’s litterbox, Fox 4 News reported.
Though Plano City Council tabled discussion of short-term rental regulations late last year, the shooting has brought the issue back to the council.
The Texas Neighborhood Coalition’s Plano chapter has tracked the number of short-term rentals and incidents in them and found that nearly 600 homes are currently listed as short-term rentals in Plano as of June 2022, an increase from 405 in February 202, they say.
Late last year, a sex trafficking ring was busted in a home being used as a short-term rental in a single-family neighborhood. While the city council did not make a decision on regulations for short-term rentals then, neighbors are hoping that the shooting will push City Council to vote on regulations that could require short-term rentals to register with the city. The Texas Neighborhood Coalition is also pushing for zoning clarification that could stop short-term rentals from operating in areas zoned for single-family housing.
