Upcoming Opportunities for Comment & Action
Opportunities for Comment
Thank you, team! You have been showing up to the City Council meetings, writing comments to the City staff, and writing to the newspaper. Chere Connor's guest column and Don Gallaspy's letter were published in last week's edition. They are included below if you wish to read them.
The next event is a Planning & Zoning Committee meeting on Wednesday, January 26th at 5:30 PM at City Hall. This will be a tough crowd because we believe that at least 3 members of the committee are STR owners.
The other events are listed in the next column. Notice that a vote isn't scheduled! While this allows more STRs to receive permits before the vote, it also allows our coalition to more time to influence the final draft.
If you are unable attend these meetings, you're welcome to send your comments to citizencomments@fbgtx.org. Please copy us in the correspondence.
Tell your personal stories.
Talk about what your city blocks look like.
Tell your stories of noise on the weekends and empty blocks during the weekdays.
Talk about shortage of housing has affected your work or coworkers.
Building the heat, one log at a time.
“Thank you, Mike Mahoney and Bill Snyder, for your letters to the editor in the Jan. 12 edition of the Standard. Each was spot on. That the STR situation in Fredericksburg is out of hand is an understatement. How has it gotten to the point that we who chose this quaint and historic city for our home are now watching as some of the city leaders, who should be running interference for us, appear to be siding with outside money.
We live in an R-1 neighborhood three blocks from Main Street on the west side of town and now find ourselves with three STRs contiguous to our home. This is not what we desired when we moved back to Fredericksburg, but what we have been dealt in an insidious creep. There was no notice to us that any of the properties were being developed as STRs. The STR owner(s) who purchased the property next to us has made no effort to introduce themselves and attempt to minimize the bother of late-night noise in a patio-fire pit-spa tub which is now outside our back door. The constant opening and closing of multiple vehicle doors plus noise of the security devices each time the vehicles are locked are always an irritant.
These folks have chosen to invest their money in our city to their benefit and our expense without much concern for the city residents. As for me, I will back an STR ordinance which has some teeth, and vote for city leaders who have the integrity to fight for us in this regard. I encourage the rest of my neighbors throughout the city to do as I will to join the Fredericksburg Neighborhood Coalition to keep abreast of what is happening in this regard.”
“Overtourism has overtaken Fredericksburg. Overtourism is the term used to describe an onslaught of tourists who take over a destination to the point that the destination cannot cope, and locals are pushed out in the process. Take Airbnb. Airbnb has turned a blind eye to the fact that real estate companies, property managers, and individuals buy up and list as many properties as they want. This has decimated the supply of rental properties for locals, increased rental prices and forced residents out. Driving locals out defeats the purpose of Airbnb. And since Airbnb won’t do anything about it, it is up to local governments to step in and start cracking down.
I work for two locally owned businesses, and I can attest to the fact that it is almost impossible to find employees. I know workers driving in from San Antonio, Boerne, Harper and Kerrville and they are forced to pay for the gas to drive up to two hours a day to and from work because they cannot afford to live in the town in which they work.
But, what I would really like to share with you is my personal experience as a homeowner. I purchased my home in 2010 because I wanted out of the big city, I wanted the quiet, small town feel of Fredericksburg. My South Heights neighborhood was cute, quiet and nicely spaced-out and there were no houses facing mine. I knew of two Short Term Rentals, old, historic homes on large lots. Then some of my elderly neighbors began to die and their homes became STRs. When the question of a limit on STRs came up, I took a look at the properties directly surrounding my home. Those properties, which were all owner-occupied when I purchased, are now 12 STRs to 13 owner-occupied. Please hear those numbers: 12 STRs to 13 OWNER-OCCUPIED. And now, the property directly across the street from my front window is being remodeled into yet more STRs. The two-bedroom house has become a three-bedroom and the two barns will be connected for another STR. Those barns are being pulled forward and will directly face my house.
This breaks my heart. And I know it would break Calvin’s heart to see his beautiful land and gardens taken over by noisy tourists. How are we just now discussing Short Term Rental permits? How has my local government allowed the cute, quiet property I purchased to instead become a regular witness to 14, most likely drunken, strangers on any given night? This not only causes mental anguish, but there is also a huge safety aspect.
Friends of mine have moved out of my neighborhood, but I cannot just up and purchase another home. I am now priced out of Fredericksburg. I have no recourse other than to ask that City Council please, for the sake of the remaining locals, put a limit on and stop renewing Short Term Rentals permits.”
