MARFA — The Marfa Chamber of Commerce Board recently announced public support for a letter penned by the Texas Neighborhood Coalition that urges state legislators to oppose any potential bills that seek to prevent cities from regulating short-term rentals (STRs) on the local level this legislative session.
The coalition’s co-founder said she hopes the letter serves as an incentive for lawmakers to rebuff short-term rental companies and their advocates.
“One of the goals of the letter is ideally, when these [Airbnb and Vrbo] lobbyists come calling, to give the legislators some cover to say, ‘I’ve heard from some constituents in my district who don’t support this so I can’t sponsor your bill,” said Jessica Black, co-founder of the coalition.
The Texas Neighborhood Coalition is a grassroots nonprofit organization formed in 2019 to fight a previous STR preemption bill which has grown to include chapters across the state.
“As short-term rentals become more prevalent, and more prolific, more and more communities are saying, ‘Hey, we need to do something about this.’ That’s why we keep adding cities that have residents that want to get involved,” said Black.
The letter enumerates, in strong terms, the many problems the coalition believes STRs inflict on communities. The coalition argues that STRs threaten communities’ sense of safety and security, threaten the private property rights of homeowners, disrupt residents’ peace and quiet with the intrusion of the “party house,” reduce the availability of affordable housing, and lead to spikes in crime. (Marfa Police Chief Steve Marquez told the Big Bend Sentinel that he has seen little to no STR-related incidents in the recent past.)
“The misery STRs inflict on neighbors in single-family neighborhoods is writ large in the media, in countless hearings at cities across the state, and in independent studies — and it is inevitable,” the letter reads.
The letter argues fervently that the regulation of short term rentals should remain a local issue.
“Zoning is the quintessential land use issue, which is uniquely suited for decision-making by local elected municipal authorities who will be closest to the terrain and community, who know best what works for their citizens, and who are answerable to them,” the letter continues.
The 2019 bill the Texas Neighborhood Coalition opposed, HB 3778, sought to prevent cities from imposing restrictions on the locations and density of STRs. The City of San Antonio, for example, currently has a limit on how many non owner-occupied STRs can exist per block. The City of Marfa does not currently regulate STRs beyond requiring a permit and safety check, but discussions as to how to regulate STRs through zoning have come up in the past.
Black, who is an Arlington resident, has been in recent conversations with Abby Boyd, president of the Marfa Chamber of Commerce, and previous Councilmember Jason Ballmann regarding how other cities around Texas regulate STRs and what Marfa’s options might look like moving forward.
“This is the beginning of a conversation we intend to have with our community that will go on for years,” said Boyd. “Taking away the right to make decisions at a local level makes it impossible to even have that conversation, so the letter was step one — securing that right, at least for this legislative session.”
Boyd said when the chamber became aware of the letter they were eager to show support for the initiative and took to social media to gather signatures. In all, the chamber gathered around 10 signatures in support of the letter from local businesses owners and citizens. Those Marfa denizens join various municipalities, neighborhood associations and more from around the state in backing the letter, which was delivered to representatives at the capitol last week.
Black said the coalition’s primary objection to any STR preemption bills, which the Marfa of Commerce Chamber board shares, are that they would impose broad-sweeping statewide legislation as opposed to allowing municipalities to regulate STRs as needed on the local level.
“Having citizens from all over the state [show support for the letter], whether they’re big urban cities like Dallas or suburbs like Arlington and Plano, or more rural towns like Kerville and Marfa. It shows the scope of the problem and the diversity of the problem, because our biggest objection to a preemption bill is a one-size-fits-all fits none,” said Black.
The Association of Texas Realtors will likely come out in support of an STR preemption bill, according to its 2023 legislative priorities, said Black, noting realtors have financial incentives to support STRs because commercial investors pay higher prices for homes with earning potential, which can cause property values to increase in an area.
Boyd said from the chamber’s perspective, Marfa will continue to suffer without affordable housing options caused by an overabundance of STRs, arguing the economic success of the town hinges on its essential workforce — which is dominated by locals.
“Affordable housing is the most pressing issue in Marfa, and it is not being addressed,” said Boyd. “Folks who have grown up here hold some of the most essential jobs in this community. The city would literally fall apart without them. No one is moving to Marfa to work for the water department or at American Electric Power (AEP), and they can’t afford to live here.”
In recent years, the Marfa Chamber of Commerce has largely been run by individuals from multigenerational local families, who Boyd said the chamber still aims to serve. In addition to hosting community events, such as Marfa Lights and more, the chamber’s current board — which consists of Boyd, Patrick Rivera and Audrey Herrera — is working to expand job preparedness at Marfa ISD and to address affordable housing.
“We are thinking about what [the] future [of Marfa’s youth] may look like if they choose to stay in Marfa, and we want to make sure they are able to thrive in this community. They deserve a chance at homeownership, or at the very least will need homes to rent,” said Boyd.
When the chamber board’s support of the neighborhood coalition letter was made public on social media, it elicited some backlash among a number of local STR operators — in part due to the severity of the language in the letter. One of the STR operators to engage with the letter on the Chamber’s Facebook page was Marfa resident Nina Dietzel. Dietzel, who moved to Marfa in 2016 and has been hosting travelers in her home for four years, said she resented the fact that the chamber’s leadership aligned with an “openly anti-STR organization” and felt like its public support for the letter got local conversations off on the wrong foot.
“It doesn’t say much for a ‘balanced approach,’ it feels one-sided to me. Also, isn’t the goal of any chamber to help to further the interests of small businesses in a local area?” Dietzel told The Big Bend Sentinel.
Some questioned whether the support of Boyd — who is also Director of Tourism for the City of Marfa — was tantamount to the support of the city — but she asserts that she operates in a volunteer capacity for the chamber, and the chamber is not currently a part of the city government. (The Marfa Chamber of Commerce was originally established in 1912 and is classified as a 501c6, meaning its members are permitted to lobby.)
When it comes to the City of Marfa’s actions on the matter, the entity has recently begun enforcing its existing laws relating to STRs, sending out letters to 212 individuals they believe to be operating STRs in January in order to issue annual permits — for which the city is charging an increased base fee of $500 and an additional $100 per unit — and ensure routine safety measures are being taken. It remains unclear exactly how many STRs Marfa has, but STR data aggregate company Air DNA’s publicly accessible online platform currently shows 187 active rentals.
Dietzel, for her part, went on to say that she believes STRs do need some regulations and that the ordinance enforced by the city seemed largely reasonable to her.
“I’ve taken a cursory glance at the current STR ordinance sent to STR owners a few days ago, and don’t see anything major that I am opposed to, aside from an extremely high permit fee,” she added.
Dietzel rents out two bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms out of her house which do not include a kitchen or living room, meaning the space is not suitable for a long-term rental, she said. She said the extra income has been helpful for her in recent years as her industry has struggled during the pandemic.
Dietzel expressed confusion as to how the City of Marfa settled on the $500 permit fee, and was also unsure why she was required to pay a commercial, rather than residential, garbage fee. She said her and other local STR owners have experienced a substantial drop in revenue in the past year, perhaps due to too many rentals flooding the market.
“What I do want to see on a city level is respect and the acknowledgement that many of us STR owner operators contribute as best as we can to this place we love,” said Dietzel. “Running a good STR isn’t easy, keeping a top line rating, which you need to attract bookings, takes constant vigilance and hard work.”
In other areas across the state, and the country, cities have tried a variety of approaches to addressing local STR markets: only allowing a finite number of STR permits to be issued, assessing owner-occupied and non-owner occupied rentals differently, fining Airbnb and Vrbo platforms for listings that do not have city permits, and more.
The Marfa Chamber of Commerce said it intends to host a series of public town halls to further explore public opinion on the current situation of STRs in Marfa. It will continue to research solutions other towns have found successful to see what might be locally applicable, said Boyd.
“We are still learning about these issues ourselves, and as we feel prepared and find people who can answer our questions, we will take it to the community,” said Boyd. “We want people to hear for themselves and form their own opinions and advocate for the community they want to live in.”