Good morning, Kerr County!
Did anyone notice that we had a momentary black rain cloud cruise over Kerrville and break apart on Tuesday afternoon? It looked ominous for about five minutes, and then it just disappeared. The weather looks sunny and warm for the foreseeable future.
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On today's The Lead Live!
We welcome back Rachel Fitch, who attended a portion of Tuesday's Kerrville City Council meeting. We're confident she will have some opinions about the meeting's focus on short-term rentals.
Mark your calendar for Public Power Week Oct. 2-8, and the Bucket Truck Rides.
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The Kerrville Public Utility Board (KPUB) is hosting a family-friendly event to meet our heroes in hardhats while we celebrate Public Power Week!
Please mark your calendars for Saturday, October 8, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., to join us in Louise Hays Park for a free community event!
This will be a free community event with family-friendly activities that will include taking a ride in one of KPUB’s bucket trucks, arc & spark demos, line worker tool displays, photo ops with our linemen, face painting and more.
KPUB will be providing free hot dogs, chips and refreshments on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as a free t-shirt for the first 100 attendees. For more information: https://www.kpub.com/community/public-power-week/
A note about Today's The Lead
After a 5-hour meeting, we'll release two emails, this morning's edition, and we'll have a special evening edition wrapping up the epic City Council meeting.
City Council hits pause on short-term rental discussion
From the start of Tuesday's Kerrville City Council meetings — a 4 p.m. workshop followed by a 6 p.m. regular meeting — the course of action on short-term rentals wasn't going to be easy.
Some would argue it's impossible. After all, opposing sides cited Texas Supreme Court decisions to back their arguments. The short-term rental conversation that has enveloped the City Council is the same one fought in municipalities across the country — with no easy answers.
The Kerrville City Council will attempt a novel approach — bringing both sides together. How that will work out will be determined, but it could be messy. After approving the first reading of an ordinance that restricts short-term rentals to zones for multi-family, residential areas with an approved accessory dwelling, or the arts and cultural district downtown. One exception to the City Council decision was to strip out a 250-foot radius rule that city staff recommended.
However, the meat of Tuesday's meeting was a permit process that featured a $500 initial fee per unit, inspections and a complaint process that could lead to a $2,000 fine. The fees drew audible gasps from short-term rental owners attending the workshop.
In a 13-page ordinance, the city staff tried to implement sweeping regulations on short-term rentals in response to heaping pressure on the city to restrict them outright. Representatives from various homeowners groups, including Riverhill and Vicksburg Village, told the City Council their members were overwhelming in their support of the ordinance.
But there's a hint of legal peril in almost every path the City Council attempts. It's not overt, but it's there. At the heart of the conversation is the notion of property rights and if those rights can impact neighbors' quality of life. At the same time, short-term rental owners argue their properties are "residences" in the same vein as long-term rentals.
The ordinance also called for accessibility requirements that met "state and federal" guidelines. In short, that means that new short-term rentals would have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act — a potentially costly requirement.
Mayor Judy Eychner said she wasn't comfortable with any of the ordinances, and Councilmember Brenda Hughes said she did not feel prepared to vote.
Councilmember Roman Garcia said he thought the City Council was trying to solve a problem that had no data to support it was a problem. And the data is clear — at least for now — that the city and the police department have received almost no complaints about short-term rentals that would merit regulatory oversight.
In the end, the City Council proposed creating an ad-hoc committee of short-term rental owners and those opposed to their approval to hammer out the details and bring it back to the city. Hughes proposed the committee after saying she was taken aback by the proposed fees during the workshop.
The Kerrville Chalk Festival, Oct. 15-16, Kerrville City Hall.
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Kerrville Chalk Festival is a family-friendly art event for the Texas Hill Country. More than 65 artists create large-scale chalk drawings directly on the pavement. Kerrville’s downtown becomes a festive canvas for local and regional artists, as wells as invited guest artists from around the United States.
The Festival has live music, many free activities, food trucks, as well as wine and craft beer. It attracts an estimated 10,000 attendees annually. Read about the history of chalk art.
Held at Peterson Plaza in the heart of downtown, the event encourages tourists and locals to dine, shop, and experience the beauty and charm of Kerrville, Texas.
The 2022 beneficiary is Kerrville Arts and Cultural Center (KACC). KACC was founded in 1995 by a group of artists with a mission of providing a show place for local artists and to further the arts and culture in the community. The Center is comprised of sixteen affiliated groups representing over 500 artists and has three distinct gallery spaces. It attracts over 20,000 visitors annually.
Todays events
Wednesday, Sept. 14
Conference
- State of Health Care — Arcadia Live!, 11 a.m. Information: https://www.kerrvillechamber.biz The details: Learn more about the state of health care in Kerr County, including key results and action plan from the Community Health Needs Assessment.
Markets and sales
- Kerr County Produce Market Day — The Big Red Barn, 10 a.m., Information: 830-896-7330 The details: Kerr County Produce Market Day (The Big Red Barn). Local Hill Country wholesale warehouse distributor for the finest fruits and vegetables. Open to the public.
- Friends of the Library Book Sale — Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, 1–3 p.m. Information: https://kerrvillet.gov/349/FOTL-Book-Sale The details: Looking for a great read? Or better yet, come down and support the work of Friends of the Library. Maybe find a banned book? That sounds like a fun day to us.
Circus
- The Carden Circus — Hill Country Youth Event Center, 6:30 p.m. Information: https://spectacularcircus.com/ The details: Carden International Circus will provide spectacular entertainment for your whole family. The Circus has been in the Carden Family for over 50 years, putting on astonishing performances, displaying awe-inspiring feats of athleticism and amazing animals. There are so many awesome attractions to see including the elephants, tigers, and much, much more! The kids will love the circus elephants. They can even ride the elephants!
Live music
- Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines — Trailhead Beer Garden at Schreiner University, 7 p.m. Information: https://www.trailheadbeergarden.com The details: Terri Hendrix is a pioneering independent Texas songwriter who spins sorrow into joy and wrings wisdom from the blues with a poetic grace and engaging melodic flair that has endeared her to three generations of fans around the globe.
- Karaoke — Pier 27 River Lounge and Pizzeria, 8 p.m. Information: (830) 896-7437 The details: Warm up your vocal cords and get ready to sing the night away! If you've never tried karaoke before, you will not regret it.
- The Pickers Circle — La Escondida 1962, 7 p.m. Information: La Escondida 1962 The details: Anyone can join. Just show up.
- Retro Flashback — Southern Sky Music Cafe, 6 p.m. Information: southernskymusiccafe.com
