The City of Fort Worth can continue enforcing its rules for short-term rentals, like Airbnb or Vrbo, thanks to a district court judge ruling in the city's favor in a lawsuit against its current ordinance.

Plans to build a 151-unit rental community in far south Fort Worth squeezed past the city’s zoning commission Wednesday afternoon. NexMetro, an Arizona-based developer, hopes to build a “cottage style” complex at the northwest intersection of Altamesa Boulevard and Village Parkway, about a mile west from Interstate 35W.

Short-term rental operators sued the city of Fort Worth, alleging its ordinance banning Airbnb and VRBO-type rentals was illegal.

A district court has ruled in favor of Fort Worth in a 2023 lawsuit challenging the city’s short-term rental regulations.

Fort Worth defines short-term rentals as any property rented out for less than 30 days. The city passed rules in 2018 banning short-term rentals from residential neighborhoods, such as Arlington Heights or Como, but allowing them in mixed-use districts like the Near Southside and downtown.