City Council mulls short-term rentals at recent meeting

RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull and the City Council met in late September to take care of business and discuss the establishment of regulations for short term rentals (STRs).

Attendees heard from assistant city attorney Jessica Tolle, who spoke on behalf of the working group establishing regulations for short-term rental properties and explained the purpose and details of Ordinance 22 (O22).

“Short-term rentals are not currently permitted to operate in city of Rio Rancho as they create a commercial use of a residentially zoned property in violation of the city’s permissive zoning uses in Chapter 154 Planning and Zoning of the Municipal Code,” she told the council.

That means, technically, everyone operating a short-term rental, such as Airbnb and Vrbo, in Rio Rancho at this time is doing so illegally. The purpose of O22 is to establish some regulations addressing the trend.

O22, if passed in its final form, would go into effect July 1, 2025.

The council heard public comment and then debated the issue amongst themselves.

The public comments were generally in support of an ordinance, but not O22 as currently written.

Madigan Ray of Rio Rancho, and candidate for Sandoval County Commission District 4, was opposed to STRs being a presence in Rio Rancho all together.

“Any time an entire home is owned for the sole purpose of short-term rentals, that’s one less home for someone to buy and be a part of this wonderful city,” she said.

STR owner Debbie Smith had the opposite take. Though she does support an ordinance, she does want O22 to be more tailored toward Rio Rancho.

“I’m just a regular neighbor who lives on the corner down the road,” she said. “We aren’t going to get rich, by any means, but it is a cushion for us as we approach our retirement years.”

Among the notable sections of O22 are noise and parking limitations, but the most controversial portion of the proposed ordinance was Section 123.04B10 (S10), which states that STR owners are limited to one rental every seven days, regardless of length of stay.

Rio Rancho resident and STR owner George Wilson said, “This prevision alone could make our small business untenable. Most of our bookings are single-night bookings. Is there any other business in Rio Rancho that is restricted to operating one day a week?”

Mayor Gregg Hull addressed this issue later in the meeting, saying businesses are not restricted to one day per week in Rio Rancho, but the difference is that those businesses are zoned for business use.

“Short-term rentals in Rio Rancho are not profitable,” Carl Videlle of the New Mexico Short-Term Rental Association told the council. “We are talking about families who most often are renting out their homes for a little extra income.”

The council debated the issue and ultimately decided to start with one rental per week and “see how it goes.” The concern from the governing body is that too many STR visitors will disrupt the neighbors.

The council voted to remove S10, and it was defeated unanimously.

They then voted to change the language of S10 to increase the number of rentals per week from one to two. That was also defeated by a vote of 5-1, with Councilman Jeremy Lenentine being the dissenting vote.

The council voted to pass O22. However, there was discussion of future potential changes including exemptions for Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

“This is a first reading,” Hull said. “It will be read a second time after it’s revised.”

Other business

• Ordinance 21 passes: The council voted unanimously to pass Ordinance 21, which would allow for more flexibility in investing in Rio Rancho’s permanent fund.

“I’m really grateful to the council for approving these changes so we can be more flexible about investing in the permanent fund, which is creating a legacy fund going forward for the community that hopefully future generations will be able to use this money and be able to accomplish great things for the city.”

• Casting off the corrugated culvert: The council voted unanimously to pass D39, which grants a contract to Vital Consulting Group in the amount of $2,889,397.27 for the Idalia Culvert Crossing. The funding would be used to replace the existing corrugated metal culvert, which is failing, with a new concrete box culvert. Vital would also handle up and down stream barriers to mitigate erosion and “protect travelers.” The project is set to begin later this month and take nine months to complete.

• New tech for the police: The Rio Rancho Police Department is getting an upgrade thanks to a unanimous council vote to approve the conversion of current Rio Rancho Police Department call center software to MARK43 CAD, which is a software platform that handles compliance, dispatching and various other digital needs for law enforcement agencies. The software will be handled and installed by Code 3 LLC.

The move represents an upgrade of the department’s current system and will allow for a seamless interface with other agencies. Albuquerque Police Department is on a different system and so it won’t help there, but the New Mexico State Police use MARK43.

Year one of the conversion is already funded, but the next three years will need to be help from the Rio Rancho General Fund.

• Council takes out the trash: The council voted on four separate resolutions concerning the approval of the disposal of city property. The resolutions were not discussed, and all passed. The property being disposed of belonged to the police department, the Rio Rancho Events Center, the Library and Information Services Department and the city of Rio Rancho (the property located at the Sandoval County Regional Emergency Communications Center.)

• Adjusting the budget: The council voted unanimously to approve three resolutions concerning budget adjustments. Budgets for the Firefighter Recruitment Grant Fund, the State Appropriations Captial Fund and the General Fund were all adjusted without public comment.

• The new kids in town: Tonja Brandt was appointed to the Arts Commission, and Christopher Marsh was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Commission.