A proposed change to Corpus Christi’s short-term rental rules could reshape who is allowed to operate rentals in single-family neighborhoods, putting a local developer with dozens of Ocean Drive properties at odds with city staff and neighbors who have complained about loud parties.

Corpus Christi City Council is set to consider changes Tuesday that would narrow the definition of a Type 1, or owner-occupied, short-term rental.

Under the proposal, a single-family property would need to be the owner’s homestead to qualify as a Type 1 short-term rental. City staff says the change is intended to close a loophole and better reflect the original intent of the city’s short-term rental ordinance.

Developer Chris Munro says the change could have major consequences for his business.

“Effectively $20 million worth of our portfolio automatically becomes non-revenue generating overnight,” Munro said.

Munro said he would be forced to sell properties or potentially file for bankruptcy.

Munro accuses city of ‘flip-flopping’

Munro is also accusing the city of changing its interpretation of the existing rules.

In July, the city’s Development Services Department published guidance explaining how it interpreted the current short-term rental ordinance. The guidance allowed an operator or tenant to help qualify a property as a Type 1 short-term rental if they lived on the property and could establish it as their legal residence.

The city later retracted that guidance.

Munro said investors and residents could rely on the city’s published interpretation when deciding whether to buy or develop a property.

“People can go out and buy property and develop property and make investments, assuming they can do specific things, and then only to find out when they actually go to apply for the permit, the city is going to tell them, ‘Sorry, we changed our position about this,'” Munro said.

The Development Services Department said public notification was not required because the underlying ordinance never changed.

City staff says the proposed amendment is meant to better reflect the original intent of the rules, limiting single-family Type 1 short-term rentals to true owner-occupied homes.

Interim Development Services Director Yvette Wallace said the original intent was for those properties to be occupied by someone with a homestead exemption.

“It should have really been someone with a homestead, so a true owner occupied and not a lessee occupied or an operator,” Wallace said.

Neighbors complain about parties

The debate over the proposed rules also comes as city leaders say they have received complaints about some of Munro’s properties.

Munro owns at least 38 properties along Ocean Drive, according to the available listings on his company’s website. Corpus Christi City Councilman Eric Cantu said he has heard from neighbors about loud parties at some short-term rentals.

Cantu described one complaint involving a resident who he said left their home and rented a hotel room because of the disruption.

“People are trying to sleep,” Cantu said. “I get it, you know. I was a kid at one time, you know. But at the same time, you got to respect your neighbors.”

Munro pushed back on the criticism, arguing Ocean Drive is not a typical residential corridor and that large gatherings also happen at homes that are not short-term rentals.

He pointed to video he took showing cars parked around the block outside a home he said was hosting a well-attended political fundraiser.

“Most of these houses that are not short-term rentals, we see them having parties with police, with hired private police officers, you know, directing traffic for 30, 40, 50 cars,” Munro said.

City Council is scheduled to consider the proposed short-term rental changes Tuesday.

The fate of short-term rentals along Ocean Drive, and across Corpus Christi, could ultimately be decided at City Hall on Leopard Street.