ColdSpring

Short-Term Rental (STR) Impact Coming Soon to Cape Royale in Coldspring,Texas

Location

This neighborhood lies 65 miles north of Houston. It is a deed restricted, private, gated community located in San Jacinto County on the southwestern shores of Lake Livingston. The reservoir is the second largest lake located in Texas, owned, and operated by the Trinity River Authority of Texas (TRA) under contract with the City of Houston for water-supply purposes. Cape Royale was launched in the 1970’s by Mitchell Development and consists of approximately 1800 homesites.

Current Situation

This community is private with 24-hour manned gate access and all roads are maintained by the community. It is located adjacent to an abandoned golf course on property owned by the TRA, who plans to renovate the course and reopen in 2026. 

Based upon information provided by the Treasurer of San Jacinto County in the collection of ‘Hotel Taxes’ in our neighborhood, there are 35 STRs in operation now, most are privately owned/operated but a gradual increase in investor owned/operated properties is now being observed. This amounts to 4.5% of the 776 constructed homes in the community are used as STRs with the remaining 95.5% used as private, residential properties. 

The current POA Board is actively seeking to regulate, not restrict, STRs within this community. This is concerning to many residents, especially those with STRs in close proximity to their personal homes and many others due to the increase of public visitors within the neighborhood and potential for POA and Owner increased liability. The increasing costs of hosting public visitors puts an immense strain on the community from the gated, attended entrance to the shared amenities such as common areas, parks, basketball courts, marina, and pool. 

For years, Owners have come to the POA Board Members and begged for relief and increased protections to no avail and the Board is now actively promoting regulating not restricting the STRs.         

In 2021, San Jacinto County, TX had a population of 27.4k people with a median age of 45.3 and a median household income of $46,678. Between 2020 and 2021 the population of San Jacinto County, TX declined from 28,574 to 27,380, a −4.18% decrease and its median household income grew from $44,566 to $46,678, a 4.74% increase. In 2021, the median property value in San Jacinto County, TX was $135,200.00, and the homeownership rate was 80.9%.

Texas Neighborhood Coalition Chapter Member

We will be utilizing the three steps as proposed by TX Neighborhood Coalition and access to their attorneys. A group of Owners identified as Cape Concerned Citizens began to 1) mobilize with other neighbors in May 2023 and 2) collect county tax data and educate Property Owners. Step three will kick off with the establishment of this Local Chapter of TX Neighborhood Coalition.

It has been determined that the current Deed Restrictions and the Board’s determination to regulate and not restrict does not provide adequate protections from the commercialization of this neighborhood.

Coming Soon

We are consulting an expert Property Attorney in our area about lawful “Next Steps” to restrict not regulate.

We will determine what will be appropriate in the implementation of Step 3 including press releases to media/social media and contacting elected officials.

You may contact us at capeconcernedcitizens@gmail.com or Cape Concerned Citizens Action Group at PO Box 75, Coldspring TX 77331.

Owner Testimony/Evidence of STR Activity in Cape Royale

We are weekend homeowners in Cape Royale and have essentially deemed our home unusable due to an STR located next door. 

My in-laws have had a lake house in the Cape for over 20 years. We have NEVER seen anything like this before. We purchased this house three years ago with hopes of sharing memorable family times with our three children. Once the home next door was converted into a commercial STR, a year ago, we have video evidence of young hooded adults opening storm doors and testing our door knobs at the front door and backdoor, ringing our doorbell, yelling profanities throughout the night and trespassing in our fenced backyard in the early morning hours (1am). We are repeatedly required to pick up their trash deposited on our property. One renter climbed on the roof of the STR while my daughter snapped a photo. We called the sheriff but by the time they arrived the renters were no longer on our property. We have reported this directly to the Board of Directors of the Cape Royale POA providing the video evidence and reported disturbances multiple times. 

Many times we feel unsafe, as we do not know who the strangers are next door. We never assumed the Cape was a crime free zone but I cannot understand why we pay for a gate and full time attendant to monitor entry when the general public are allowed in.

We have been criticized by STR proponents within this neighborhood and even past Board Members on social media. Even the Owners next door have described us as ‘bougie neighbors from The Woodlands’. We aren’t bougie, we are simple people but would not have purchased a home if we had felt unsafe, which we now do. If you lived next door to this STR, I promise you would feel unsafe as well. 

We have a fence surrounding our backyard, spent over $20k on trees to provide more privacy, installed Security Monitoring devices in the front and back yards to no avail.

Additionally, Neighbors report, “Everyone of us around this house is concerned about our safety and the change it has brought to our section. We have vulnerable residents within two doors of the house and two more across the street as well. This house was the reason our section came together and 87% of the section Owners signed a petition attempting to ban STRs in our section, again to no avail”.

coldspring updates

04/15/24: Prior to petition efforts, we consulted three different Property Law attorneys as well as the Texas Neighborhood Coalition’s Attorney:

  • The first shared that with a 24 hour manned gate/roads maintained by Owners, we could restrict STRs in any way chosen. 

  • The second attorney drafted the Petition’s amendment, the wording of the amendment had been vetted in the Texas lower and appellate courts up to the TX Supreme Court.

  • The third was an expert in rural property law and looked closely at ALL Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and Deed Restrictions regarding the legality of the petition and our process. 

  • The fourth represented the Texas Neighborhood Coalition 

The copy of our amendment/petitions were turned in within the allotted time frame. Volunteers turned in 206 signatures which represented 12% of the consolidated property owners.  It also represented one-third of all permanent residents in the Cape Royale as there are approximately 300 full time residents.

The petition was denied by the board on the grounds we believe are invalid, that is on the basis of a board policy that cannot trump our rights under the restrictive covenants. The petition simply asked the board to allow the property owners to vote on an alternative amendment to restrict short term rentals provided by this group and drafted by the second attorney.  This would have given anyone the right to vote for or against the amendment but would have allowed the decision to be made by property owners and not the Board of Directors. You may view the policy and requirements here.

All attorneys consulted stated the Policy used to reject our petition was INVALID and the Deed Restrictions and Bylaws did not support the use of a policy that superseded the Bylaws and Deed Restrictions. Coincidentally, the Board has now proposed STR amendments for approval in the April 2024 Election that will set precedenTS allowing governance of all short and long-term rentals by policy drafted exclusively by the Board of Directors not Bylaws/Deed Restriction.

We have been advised, the only next step would be to file a lawsuit against the Board or recall the responsible Board Members after the April 2024 election. Needless to say, we have been very busy educating Owners and recruiting candidates for two Board positions this election cycle.

01/02/2024: The CRPOA Board of Directors has proposed an amendment to revise the Deed Restrictions. They propose to regulate short-term rentals and relax standards beyond what the booking websites allow. To that disappointing end, Owners determined it was necessary to consult/hire an expert in Property Law to draft an alternative amendment restricting STR stays to no less than 90 days for placement on the April 2024 ballot. 

In December 2023, a petition drive was initiated to request the Board place the alternative amendment on the April ballot. This alternative amendment has been proven to repeatedly withstand legal challenges within Texas Courts. If allowed to be placed on the ballot by this Board, this alternative amendment requires all property owners to comply with new deed restrictions of "rentals no less than 90 days" and restricts STR advertising. 

We are gathering signatures door to door and plan drive-through signature gathering in the Clubhouse Parking Lot at scheduled times/dates to be announced on Nextdoor or by an email request to Capeconcernedcitizens@gmail.com. 

At the same time, we are conducting an anonymous property owner poll with results to be provided to the Board of Directors. The poll addresses the willingness of Owners to begin a removal process 'for cause' as specified in the Cape Royale By-Laws Section 4, Article 7. 

All Owners that want to sign this petition to place the alternative amendment on the April Ballot, assist in collecting petition signatures or participate in the anonymous poll, email us at Capeconcernedcitizens@gmail.com and we will make the necessary accommodations to allow your participation.