In early 2021, City Council recognized the importance of creating regulations that allow property owners to utilize their property for short-term rental purposes without causing harm to neighborhoods and requested City staff conduct a review of the City’s needs and draft an ordinance that regulates such activity.
City staff began reviewing other Texas municipalities’ STR ordinances with the understand that such ordinances aren’t one-size fits all and will require a thorough review of the approaches used by the other Texas municipalities to determine appropriateness for Corpus Christi.
On January 11, 2022, City Council approved the first phase in a two-step process to establish specific regulations for short-term rentals within the City of Corpus Christi. The ordinance approved at the meeting requires STR units operating within properly zoned areas to register for a permit to operate within the City of Corpus Christi. The STR registration ordinance allows the city to establish regulations for the protection of the health and safety of occupants of the short-term rental properties along with providing a mechanism that can assist the city with enforcement of illegal units within single family neighborhoods.
The next phase of the ordinance development will address land use issues related to STRs with the support of a stakeholder group. The city will be looking to strike an appropriate balance between property owner rights and the protection of the residential character of neighborhoods.
