City of Rockwall considers short-term rental registration program

ROCKWALL, TX (March 14, 2024) The City Council of the City of Rockwall is considering the implementation of a Short-Term Rental registration and permitting program.  The purpose of the program is to provide logical regulations for Short-Term Rentals within the City’s corporate limits, and to ensure the continued preservation of the character of the City’s single-family residential neighborhoods.

A PUBLIC HEARING on this item will be held at the March 18, 2024 City Council Meeting, which will be at 6:00 PM in the City Council Chambers at 385 S. Goliad Street, Rockwall, Texas 75087.  If approved at this meeting, a subsequent second reading and anticipated adoption of the ordinance will be at the April 1, 2024 City Council Meeting (which will be held in the aforementioned location at 6:00 PM).

SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM

Under the proposed program, Short-Term Rentals would be required to register with the City of Rockwall every three (3) years and pay an administrative fee of $500.00.  If approved, the program would establish a 90-day grace period — running from April 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024 — for the registration of the City’s existing Short-Term Rentals.  After June 30, 2024, applications for new Short-Term Rentals will be accepted by the City’s Building Inspections Department.  The proposed program — as its currently written — would establish the following:

• A definition of Short-Term Rentals, and three (3) new categories of Short-Term Rentals: [1] Owner-Occupied Single-Family Home, Townhome, or Duplex, [2] Non-Owner-Occupied Single-Family Home, Townhome, or Duplex, and [3] Apartment or Condominium.

• Amend the zoning code to establish where Short-Term Rentals are permitted to be located in the City of Rockwall.

• Create General Standards for Short-Rentals that include requirements associated with advertising, parking, temporary structures, trash, signage, life safety requirements, conduct on premises, tenant notification requirements, insurance, and payment of hotel occupancy tax.

• Establish enforcement and penalty procedures for Short-Term Rentals, and an appeal process for administrative decisions made as a result of the program.

• Establish Non-Conforming Rights for properties that are able to prove they have been operating as a Short-Term Rental prior to the adoption of the proposed ordinance.

CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information concerning the proposed program or for a copy of the proposed ordinance, please contact the City of Rockwall’s Planning and Zoning Department at (972) 771-7745 or email planning@rockwall.com.

Submitted press release from City of Rockwall, edited for publication in Blue Ribbon News. 

  City Council, city of rockwall, public hearing, Registration, short-term rentals