Three years of soul searching and study about tourism-rich Temecula’s explosion of short-term home rentals has culminated in a decision to prohibit them outright and fine violators $1,000.
Renting out one’s house less than 30 days already wasn’t allowed in the city of more than 100,000, Assistant City Manager Greg Butler said. And, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, the Temecula City Council voted 4-0 to pass an ordinance that bars short-term rentals in residential areas.
Council members also passed a resolution setting the fine. Councilman Mike Naggar did not participate in the discussion or vote to avoid a potential conflict of interest because of his business dealings.
The vote came at the end of a lengthy meeting in which 21 people spoke. Some were neighbors of short-term rentals they said are party houses where large numbers of noisy people gather, clog neighborhood streets with their cars and leave behind mountains of trash.
Temecula resident Tammy Alvarado said there are no fewer than four short-term rentals in her neighborhood — three within five doors of her, according to a videotape of the meeting.
“We’ve called the police numerous times, 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., because they hang out in the back yard at the fire pit or the jacuzzi,” Alvarado told council members. “And they’re on vacation.
“We’re not on vacation. This is our home. We have to wake up in the morning. We have to function. We have to be productive citizens. And it’s hard to do when you’re under stress, when you’re under anxiety,” she said.
Donna Cole, who lives behind a rental home, said she constantly has to contend with loud music.
Wearing red to show unity, many speakers were rental-home operators. They said they enforce contracts, and employ noise monitors and cameras, to make sure renters behave responsibly. They apologized to those who had suffered from some operators’ excesses.
“My heart went out to those people,” Alexandria de Rossi said by phone Thursday, Jan. 16.
Rental-home owners pleaded with the council to let them continue doing business in the city and said they supported strict rules.
They did not get what they wanted. Instead, property owners are left with “a blanket ban,” de Rossi said. “That isn’t fair.”
As a result, these business owners are scrambling to wind down operations, which won’t be easy, de Rossi said. She said she has guests booked as far out as next fall. She and husband, James Bicos, own a home on 2.37 acres in which they live Monday through Thursday, then rent on weekends.
Meanwhile, operators are pondering the idea of circulating a petition to place an initiative on the November ballot, asking city voters to legalize rentals.
City officials are discussing how soon they will enforce the law. Butler said the $1,000 fine is effective now.
“Legally, we could start fining folks for illegal operations today, if we wanted to,” he said.
But he said the city must establish a procedure for notifying violators before starting enforcement.
Prompted by widespread complaints about loud and unruly parties, the city began studying the issue in 2017.
In recent years, the Temecula area has become a tourism juggernaut. Tourism generates more than $1 billion annually for the local economy through visits to Old Town Temecula and the nearby Temecula Valley Wine Country, and a booming hotel market, among other attractions, according to a recent Visit Temecula Valley report.
At the same time, the popularity of booking stays in rental homes at online sites such as Airbnb has soared.
And now, Assistant Planner Brandon Rabidou said in a report, about 300 homes are being rented out.
“It’s exploded in the last couple years,” Councilwoman Maryann Edwards said.
What’s concerning, Rabidou said, is complaints about excessive noise, disorderly conduct, traffic congestion, illegal parking and trash accumulation have soared, too.
Rabidou said the trend also comes as cities are feeling pressure from the state to provide more places to live to ease California’s housing crisis, and 300 short-term rentals means there are fewer homes in Temecula for people to live.
Councilman Matt Rahn said, “this is something that every community in the state of California, and not just California but nationally, is struggling with right now.”
For the council majority, the need to preserve peace and quiet in neighborhoods trumped other considerations.
“We have to protect our citizens over and above anything else,” Mayor James “Stew” Stewart said at the meeting. “And that includes making a dollar.”
Edwards, though she voted with the majority, argued for a compromise forcing short-term rentals to be good neighbors while opening a way for them to legally operate.
“I just felt bad,” she said. “I felt for the mom-and-pops and the empty nesters who have found a way to supplement their retirement income.”
She said the rental-home operators who spoke didn’t appear to be people whose homes generated complaints. And she said she didn’t wish to ban rentals because of “a few bad apples.”
Edwards said she is looking forward to a scheduled council review of the matter one year from now.
"fine" - Google News
January 18, 2020 at 11:30PM
https://ift.tt/2R4p1Mk
Temecula bans short-term rental homes, sets $1,000 fine - Press-Enterprise
"fine" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2NyjnPq
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment