First short-term rental registration deadline March 15

Phase 2 involves residential neighborhoods and July 15 deadline

Phase 1 of new short-term rental rules requires Flour Bluff and North Padre Island rental owners to register with the city by March 15. Short-term rental owners in the remaining communities in the Corpus Christi area have until July 15, Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni told the City Council at its regular meeting Feb. 22. Owners must have a permit to offer a short-term rental in the city.
On Jan. 11, the council approved an ordinance that required all legally operating short-term rentals to register with the city.
At this time, rentals are permitted in all zones except for single family-use (R-6) developments. Registration for a short-term rental (STR) can take place on the city of Corpus Christi website.
Phase 2 of the city ordinance, under development now, addresses rules on whether or not to allow STRs in other areas of the city, including residential neighborhoods. It involves a panel composed of six STR owners, three neighborhood-based individuals, and five generally neutral people who are neither advocates nor operators to look at STRs in developments other than planned-unit, multi-family, or commercial.
Zanoni said he will add a few more people to the committee, including neighborhood representatives. Only one person from a neighborhood attended the first meeting Feb. 18. The city districts are equally represented on the committee.
“The purpose of the panel is to evaluate land use and zoning districts to determine what, if any, single-family areas can be appropriate for short-term rentals,” Zanoni said. The 14-member group determining the future of the short-term-rental ordinance is in the beginning stages and has not committed to anything. 
“There is passion on both sides, the operator and the neighborhood side,” Zanoni continued. “We would like to come to some compromise so that it will be favorable to both sides.” 
He added that the council and city staff will work with stakeholder groups with the goal of having something by summer. 
Corpus Christi Major Paulette M. Guajardo requested a report from each meeting on what was discussed and that any progress be posted on the city's STR webpage. The group meets every three to four weeks. 
District 4 Councilor Greg Smith noted that the need for balance with STRs in neighborhoods is important. 
“The ordinance is another tool in our tool chest, another reason that somebody renting in an R-6 neighborhood is illegal,” he said. “And we will enforce it.”