By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
The City of South Padre Island held a regular meeting on Friday, Sept. 18.
The meeting started out with council member Lisa Graves praising the success of the Tacos and Tequila festival, which took place the weekend before, and a reading of a proclamation condemning puppy mills and
encouraging citizens to adopt from animal rescues.
Reymundo Carillo of Republic Services reported a rough growth of over 16% in recycling tonnage in the last year. Because of that growth, Carillo expressed the need for an additional dedicated, rear-loading truck.
This would eliminate the need for residents to hand-sort recyclables. The purchasing of this truck would be of no extra cost to the City and would allow about three-tons more per load, according to Carillo.
Following, the majority of the council meeting centered around issues with short-term rentals and regulation enforcement.
Deckard Technologies, a real-estate analytics agency hired by the City last year, reported that there are currently 2,408 short-term rental licenses on South Padre Island [SPI], making nearly a third of the Island’s
housing rental properties, according to Mayor Patrick McNulty. The call center which receives complaints regarding short-term rentals has seen quite the influx in calls: 101 since last October. According to Deckard,
36 properties received over half of those complaints. Council member Kerry Schwartz requested a list of these repeat-offender properties, and Deckard confirmed they would be able to provide that information.
Will Greenwood, owner of Island Rentals and President of the Vacation Rental Managers Association, took the podium to express frustration with the City for not enforcing fines on rental properties that do not
comply with regulations.
“The city needs to do their part,” said Greenwood. “We are still dealing with the issues. We have $300,000 given from the vacation industry that was fee’d by the City, and we are still in the same conversation, I
feel. We haven’t made any progress. So, before we get into ‘let’s dictate occupancies’ and talk about more regulations in our industry, why don’t we do what we said we were going to do?”
McNulty shared the difficulties of trying to be “tourist friendly” while also enforcing regulations on these short-term rentals. He brought up the idea of being “zero-tolerance” but said the council would have to have
a “backbone” and not “wiggle themselves out of it.” In addition, Schwartz spoke on the importance of respecting the rights of residents on the Island and their enjoyment of living there.
City Manager Randy Smith expressed his worries about becoming “zero tolerance,” and how that would affect the Island’s reputation with tourists, especially considering social media presence.
“Nothing against Will [Greenwood]…But you have to realize a lot of people that ask for these things are often the first ones to get the ticket,” said Smith.