Thank y’all for mobilizing for last night’s STR Workshop!
David Turpin here, operating on a paucity of sleep but no shortage of encouragement after last night. WOW, what an evening!
Cannot thank y’all enough for mobilizing for last night’s STR Workshop, for speaking publicly, for making your voice and potential vote felt in a palpable, undeniable, effective way. I couldn’t have been more proud of the way our nascent Coalition is already spreading our wings. My recollection of last night’s five-hour meeting is far from perfect, so I apologize in advance for what I’ve missed. Thank you for correcting any errors or filling in gaps.
Several WINS
Three of the five council members (O’Neill, Luckenback, & Watson) came out in favor of zero new absentee-owned STRs in R-1 neighborhoods. Bravo! As long as these three council members stay the course, such language should be incorporated into the new ordinance, which would be huge!
By contrast, Mayor Kiehne and Tom Musselman are in support of additional absentee-owned STRs in R-1 neighborhoods.
Three of the five council members (O’Neill, Luckenback, & Watson) came out in favor of reducing the number of infractions required for an STR’s permit to be temporarily revoked. As drafted an STR must garner six infractions to receive a 90-day revocation of permit. These council members agreed that three infractions should trigger revocation and that revocation should be longer (180 days or permanent). Not only is this reasonable but it’s vital if the City is going to actually deter the most noxious of behavior stemming from larger party houses.
Councilwoman O’Neill also recommended we follow the example of Waco and stipulate that an STR permit NOT transfer upon change of ownership of a property. This suggestion was made towards the end of the meeting (fifth hour) and unfortunately it seemed the Council – or perhaps primarily the Mayor, who leads the meeting – had run out of steam, was ready to adjourn, and no discussion was had on this point. I believe it right to support the Council to follow the lead of Waco in implementing this commonsense and legally-defensible approach to gradually restore balance by slowly decreasing the total number of STRs.
Waco deemed it necessary to prohibit ANY future absentee-owned STRs in residential zones (owner-occupied will still be permitted) and gradually phase out existing as noted. Let’s peek at Waco’s numbers relative to those of Fredericksburg:
Waco Population: ~140,000; # of STRs: 260
FBG Population: ~11,500; # of STRs: >900
And a real SETBACK
The Council (Watson, Kiehne, & Musselman) backpedaled from the City’s proposed language tightening requirements for R-2 zoned properties to apply for a CUP. These three councilmen instead support all R-2 zoned properties being STR-able “by right”. I was surprised to see both Musselman and Watson expressing this view, as they have both also noted that in our community much of R-2 feels and lives as if it were R-1. We must encourage Musselman and Watson to reconsider this position, to offer further protection to R-2 neighborhoods.
Action items moving forward
Forward
We need to ramp up, broaden our Coalition. Lots of positive momentum and let’s build on it. To that end, please forward this email to those in your personal network who might be interested in joining us. This single step, fully reaching our peer-to-peer networks, might be the most important next step we take!
Flyers
We will distribute flyers as a way of broadening support and raising awareness of who we are. We don’t aim to haphazardly place flyers on every door in town, because we all know that many would be wasted on the doorstep of actual STRs, but if we simply canvas our neighborhoods by placing flyers at the homes of actual residents, the effect could be tremendous. Thank you for letting me know if you are game to distribute flyers in your neighborhood or help pay for the cost of flyers.
Referendum: We will research what all can be accomplished by a referendum as well as the steps necessary to effect a referendum.
Vetting of Candidates Running for Office
Emily Kirchener as well as Tony Klein have stated their intention to run for City Council. I encourage you to reach out to Emily emily@emilyforfredericksburg.com and Tony Klein to learn whether they are committed to preserving neighborhoods. Nobody to my knowledge has entered the race to challenge Kiehne as mayor, which I hope changes.
This past week I had what my wife would call a “pinch-me moment” as I was driving down Main Street early Saturday morning. I was stirred by the beauty and character of our town, the richness of our community, and enjoyed a supreme feeling of gratitude to call Fredericksburg ‘home’. Ain’t no place like it. Definitely worth preserving!
Onward,
David Turpin
