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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformational Item 6-Month Follow-up on Short-Term Rentals (STR)CITY OF PALM DES DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY D STAFF REPORT PASSED TO 2ND READING REQUEST: INFORMATIONAL REPORT AS A 6-MONTH FOLLOW UP ON SHORT-TERM RENTALS. SUBMITTED BY: Tony Bagato Principal Planner APPLICANT: City of Palm Desert DATE: October 28, 2011 CONTENTS: March 24, 2011 City Council Minutes Recommendation That the City Council, by Minute Motion, receive and file this informational report regarding short-term rentals. Background On March 24, 2011, the City Council approved a Zoning Ordinance Amendment requiring a Conditional Use Permit for short-term vacation rentals in all non -gated, residential communities. The ordinance was approved on a 3-2 vote with the direction that staff come back in six months with a follow-up staff report. Since the ordinance has been adopted, 38 homes were 'grandfathered in' as existing short-term rentals. Additionally, six (6) property owners have applied for a Conditional Use Permit; five (5) were approved and one (1) was denied. Staff researched the addresses now approved for use as short-term rentals, and no complaints related to these properties have been filed with the City's Code Compliance Division. Previously, staff reported that there could be more than 1,350 short-term rentals: 1,200 in gated communities and 150 in non -gated communities. In addition, staff had determined that the Finance Department was receiving transient occupancy tax (TOT) from 758 properties, which indicated that over 600 properties were not paying TOT to the City. Since the new ordinance, staff has not received a significant number of applications for either a conditional use permit for non -gated properties or a TOT permit for properties in gated communities. Based on previous research, staff believes that there may be as many as 500 to 600 property owners operating short-term rentals Staff Report Short-term Rental Update October 28, 2011 Page 2 of 3 illegally without a TOT permit and not paying the taxes due to the City. Of the possible 600 illegal rentals, an estimated 90 are located in non -gated communities. Planning Commission Input: On October 4, 2011, staff asked the Planning Commission for feedback regarding the process for short-term rentals. A few of the suggestions were that the City Council should look at putting "teeth" into an ordinance by the way of fines or restrictions, and require that the applicants use a local professional management company rather than relying on an out -of -the -area owner or the property owner's neighbor. Discussion The ordinance requiring a Conditional Use Permit for short-term rentals in non -gated communities has been in effect for six months. During that time, 38 properties already paying TOT for short-term rentals in non -gated communities were grandfathered, and there have been only six (6) applications filed: five (5) were approved and one (1) was denied, for new short-term rentals in non -gated communities. Over the past six months, staff has not received any noise complaints associated with short-term rentals. After the new ordinance was approved, staff initially received a few complaints from homeowners within gated communities who wanted the same requirements for a CUP. In reviewing the new ordinance, staff believes that the current ordinance is not very effective in bringing about compliance and addressing the large number of unlicensed short-term rental properties within the City. The greatest concern for property owners seeking compliance is the public hearing and $500 fee with no guarantee of approval. There have not been any concerns with the other requirements for maximum number of guests, parking, noise, trash and the two night/three day minimum. Staff contacted the property manager who represented the first application that was processed, which was denied. The property manager stated that he had clients waiting to see what would happen with the first application. When the application was denied because one resident spoke in opposition, his potential clients stated they did not want to pay the $500 and go through a public hearing process only to be denied. If they wanted to file an appeal, there would be an additional fee and they could spend $1,000 without an approval. They stated that they have been operating their short-term rentals for several years without any complaints and without the City knowing. They believed that it was in their best interest to continue to operate without City approval and take the risk of a complaint instead of seeking compliance. When the ad -hoc subcommittee met, there were discussions about restricting short- term rentals through an ordinance with strict regulations, or permitting them on a case - by -case basis with a Conditional Use Permit. The CUP was ultimately recommended G:\Planning\Tony Bagato\Staff Reports\ZOA\10-68 Short -Term Rentals\6 Month Update\City Council Staff Report 6 Month Follow Up (3).doc Staff Report Short-term Rental Update October 28, 2011 Page 3 of 3 because it requires a public hearing after notification of surrounding property owners within 300, and because a CUP can be revoked if there are too many violations. Staff believes there are two issues of concern with the current ordinance. First, it does not address the large number of gated community properties being operated illegally without a TOT permit or a business license. Second, it does not bring about compliance in non -gated communities as evidenced by the fact that only six homeowners have applied over six months' time. Staff believes that there are approximately 90 such properties being operated without a Conditional Use Permit and a TOT permit or a business license. The discussion with the subcommittee was that this issue would be revisited six months after the adoption of this ordinance to determine how well the process was working. On the basis of the six-month report, further direction from the City Council could be provided. Submitted by: Tony Bagato Principal Planner .I r Jopo M. Wohlmuth, City Manager Department Head: Lauri Aylaian Director of Community Development GAPlanning\Tony Bagato\Staff Reports\ZOA\10-68 Short -Term Rentals\6 Month Update\City Council Staff Report 6 Month Follow Up (3).doc MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 Councilmember Finerty commended the efforts made to strive for the 35% reduction in water. Additionally, she was pleased with the new color palette that was just distributed this evening, stating it was lighter and brighter. Councilman Kroonen asked if Mr. Holt felt optimistic that this project could move through the Department of State Architect expeditiously, based on his prior experience with that agency. MR. HOLT responded it appeared that based on his conversations with the Rancho Bemardo office that their workload was down and, with the state of the economy, it might help this project, but they are expecting a three -months turnaround. He believed the project will be right on schedule because of the factored cooperation. Mayor Pro Tem Spiegel moved to, by Minute Motion: 1) Concur with the recommendations of the Library Promotion Committee as have been provided for Design Schematic and Color Palette, and including those provided at its regular meeting March 16, 2011; 2) receive and file report for the `Refresh" Project being undertaken by the EDA for the Palm Desert Public Library as presented. Motion was seconded by Finerty and carried by a 5-0 vote. Mayor Benson thanked the presenters for coming out to update the City Council, stating staff had been through it at the Library Promotion Committee. She said the Project Team had been very responsive to everything the Committee had come forward with and was happy to see that everyone concurred with the Committee. XVII. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENT, REQUIRING A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR SHORT-TERM VACATION RENTALS IN NON -GATED RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS OR COMMUNITIES AND A MODIFICATION TO THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT CHAPTER ESTABLISHING A MINOR CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT REVIEW FOR THIS PURPOSE Case No. ZOA 10-68 (City of Palm Desert, Applicant). Principal Planner Tony Bagato stated this item was discussed at lengths for the past years, but this issue came up most recently in 2009 where a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) from a homeowner in Palm Desert Country Club was denied by the Planning Commission on a 4-1 vote. At that time, the City had four Planning Commissioners that dealt with a short-term rental case for the first time, even though the Zoning Ordinance allowed them with a CUP. The Planning Commission denied the CUP and was appealed to the City Council, and again was denied. The determination was that single-family homes were not comparable uses with short-term rentals. In 2010, staff 17 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 looked at a Zoning Ordinance Amendment after discussing the possibility of allowing short-term rentals in gated communities, but found the Ordinance didn't deal with gated communities and non -gated specific zones, so staff considered prohibiting short-term rentals in non -gated communities. In April 2010, the first hearing was held by the Planning Commission and it received many comments in opposition to the prohibition from homeowners who were legally renting their property with a business license, but in some cases they didn't have a CUP, because they weren't informed when they obtained their business license that they needed a CUP. After that meeting, a subcommittee was formed that included two Councilmembers, two Planning Commissioners, and members from the public both in opposition to and in favor of allowing short-term rentals. The pros and cons were discussed, and one main issue was to weight the balance of being a tourist community versus a growing permanent resident/retirement community. However, the benefits that residents get to experience came from Tax Occupancy Tax (T.O.T.) revenues from hotels, short-term rentals, and retail sales (shopping and eating out in restaurants). There were discussions that home rentals can provide a variety of options that hotels and motels couldn't, like accommodating large families or family combinations, infant care, and pets. Based on his own investigation and on-line research, staff guesstimated there were 1,300 short-term rentals with 1,200 of them being in gated communities and150 in non -gated communities. He said the T.O.T. last year from about 45% of those obtaining a business license was $234,900.27. Within the past ten years staff had only received seven complaints at seven specific properties. In some of those cases, they were repeated offensives and homeowners adjacent to those homes had experienced a lot of problems. However, staff found potential party homes were a small problem in the majority of the City. There was discussion on whether to prohibit short-term rentals or allow them outright, so the Committee returned to utilizing the CUP as the best all around approach, because property owners can be notified and restrictions can be implemented to keep them compatible with the single-family neighborhood. In that discussion, the fee for a Short- term rental CUP was discussed as well. Currently, a CUP costs $2,915, but with it being so high, people are not encouraged to obtain a business license and CUP. Therefore, part of this request is to initiate a minor CUP for a trust deposit fee of $1,500, which covers staff time. He said preset conditions of approval can be applied to short-term rentals that weren't in place in the past that would provide better control for the property owners and residents. One of the conditions is the minimum number of days a home can rent for by a property owner. The proposal is for three days and two nights minimum, because a large population with a great deal of wealth was within the two - hours radius that can come to Palm Desert for a weekend of shopping, and potential short holidays like Thanksgiving. Other conditions include the maximum number of people, which would be based on the number of bedrooms within the home; the appearance of the rental cannot look like a hotel; no signage allowed; all parking associated with the rental needs to be 18 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 provided on the property; compliance with the City's Noise Ordinance; contact person and property owner information needs to be provided to the City so that staff can follow up with any complaints or potential violations; renter notification of conditions provided to renters; compliance with Transient Occupancy Tax; numerous violations can be cause for revocation of the CUP and a property owner will no longer be allowed to operate a short-term rental. The Planning Commission approved the proposal on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioner Lemont and DeLuna voting NO. He concluded his staff report and offered to answer questions. Mayor Benson declared the public hearing open and invited public testimony FAVORING or OPPOSING this matter. MS. VICKI MURGUTA, Owner of Vacation Rentals of the Desert, stated she represented 120 properties and has been managing properties for 15 years. She said there were many repercussions from an Ordinance of this kind, because there was a lot to consider as far as the economy and the types of people that have vacation rentals. These days a majority of the people who have vacation rentals are not looking to have a business, but are trying to save their second home, because they're upside down on their mortgage. Therefore, people either sell, foreclose, or turn a home into a long-term rental. She said a majority of her rentals are in country clubs and found that the high -end ones such as Monterey are going long-term, because the owners are pressed to do monthly rentals. In this economy, a rental that would normally be $1,800 a month was now $1,200, which attracted young families with kids and pets. She said you now see people in the pool every day and it changes the face of the community, which is what she feared. Additionally, $1,500 for an application was too high, because in talking to property owners that did on-line vacation rentals, who is her biggest competition, will stay below the wire. She said Palm Springs' Ordinance required a $60 permit per year, and at that price or even $100, people will want to come into compliance. Otherwise, property owners will continue to stay underground, which hurts her business and the City's T.O.T. As part of the Vacation Rental Managers Association nationwide, she learned there's been some vast studies made all over the United States where good -neighbor policies were established that turned some of these issues into win -win situations for the city and residents. She's hoping to participate in some of the meetings to share more, because three minutes wasn't enough time to share it all. MS. SARAH PALLETT, Brighton Street, Palm Desert, CA, stated her family often drove up from Los Angeles to stay in their home and rented it as a vacation home as well. She thanked the City Council for the opportunity to be part of the subcommittee and for forming it to allow interested parties to come together to collaborate. She said the Committee dug deep to the heart of the matter, which was neighbors getting along. She believed the 19 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 proposed solutions presented this evening will accomplish that goal, because it was about respecting each other and each others property, which is what made Palm Desert such a great place to be. She was proud to be a homeowner and member of this community. She thanked the Council for its consideration and time. MS. CAROLE STEPHEN, Meadow Lane, Palm Desert, CA, stated she's lived in Palm Desert for 30 years and has a vacation rental and permit for it. In 2005 she broke her back and neck in a road accident and her only sources of income are from vacation rentals. She is very strict with the cleanliness of the home rentals and the type of clients she accepts. She had William Shatner from the television show called "CSI" stay in one of her rentals when his daughter was getting married in Palm Desert. Since then, he has referred many clients. She said many of her clients work for CBS, FOX, NBC, Sony, and Universal; she even had the Nabisco winner stay in her house. She said those attending the Bob Hope Classic or Canadians who come with their whole family to purchase a home in Palm Desert, couldn't stay for 30 days. Finally, Eisenhower Medical Center has one of the largest and best Cancer Centers in the Country that many of her calls are from families who want to be near their love ones in their final days and need a home for the entire family to stay. She wouldn't want to have to say the City of Palm Desert now had rules that required them to stay for a minimum of 30 days. She said short-term rentals in the Desert made Palm Desert popular, and Channel 2 televised a program recently that talked about vacation homes all over the Country in a positive way. She said during the summer golf courses needed the business that came from the Europeans, but they usually only stay 10 to 12 days. Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel stated the proposed Ordinance was for a minimum of three days. MS. STEPHEN said she was unaware of the change, but was pleased. She said she would never rent for less than three days anyway, because it would change the element of the person renting. MR. BURT MCCHESNEY stated he was a member of the California Desert Association of Realtors, the largest one in the Desert, and it opposed the proposed recommendations, because it was a solution in search of a problem. He said staff testified there were only seven complaints over a number of years involving short-term rentals, which didn't seem to be a huge crisis in need of a solution. He said the previous witness who was a professional in the business was of the same opinion he heard from his members regarding the $1,500 permit, requirement for property owners to participate in a hearing, notification of all members, and the fact that many property owners who lived out of the City would not be encouraged to apply but instead go underground. He said the City will lose both the ability to 20 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 know who is renting and the opportunity to collect its T.O.T. He recommended the Council consider staying with a relatively inexpensive license tax, which can achieve all the goals outlined by staff at a much lower cost. He said on-line registration would keep it simple, clean, and inexpensive for both the City and homeowner and still provide the City the knowledge of who is renting and be able to collect the tax at a much higher percentage. Responding to question about his opposition, he said he was opposed not only to the $1,500 fee, but the other components about providing notice to all the neighbors and participation in a public hearing to get approval. As an owner from out of the City, just to contend with the objections that regardless of Council's good intentions and quality standards imposed on tenants, it will be a tough sell. He believed the solution here didn't solve the problem of a few bad apples making noise and bothering tenants, which he agreed was not a good thing, but the City had a Noise Ordinance and other ordinances to enforce to make people comply. He said based on testimony today, there were not many complaints to go through such a big process, which didn't get anyone anywhere. MS. KIM ROGERS, Homestead Road, Palm Desert, CA stated the previous speakers covered all the same items she was going to address except that in her trying to sell homes in Palm Desert, she had already encountered buyers wanting to look elsewhere like Rancho Mirage or Palm Springs when she mentioned this special use permit. She said it was something else for the Council to consider, because it did affect Realtors incomes who specialized in the City of Palm Desert. She urged the Council to reconsider the CUP and drop the requirement for neighbor approval, because it was too much. She was in favor of conditionally allowing the short-term rentals to continue with the registered homeowners paying the T.O.T. She provided a letter in opposition from another agent to the City Council. With no further testimony offered, Mayor Benson declared the public hearing closed. Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel agreed the cost for the CUP was too high and believed other cities charged less. Additionally, he asked if it was normal to notify all the residents that a home would be rented out. Mr. Bagato responded the subcommittee discussed the fact that the City of Palm Springs had an Ordinance that allowed short-term rentals outright, but those that opposed short-term rentals preferred to prohibit them. Therefore, the CUP process became a compromise and tool, which would give the City more control, and by providing notification, neighbors will have an opportunity to raise their concerns, but wouldn't be able to vote against it. The Planning Commission will have preset conditions that hopefully will provide them more clear cut direction than it had in the past. The CUP is a one-time fee, which ran with the home, but property owners will still be required to obtain their 21 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 annual business license for a fee of $50 or $60. The fee for the CUP can be set at Council's discretion, but it couldn't charge more than staffs time. He said Council can lower the fee to encourage people to apply for a CUP with the understanding that staffs time will be recouped from the General Fund. He said $500 would be a third of staffs time. He reiterated the CUP was a compromise of the subcommittee and only applied to non -gated communities. Further responding, he said the CUP requirement only applied to about 150 homes. Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel asked if the comment that people will go underground meant the City wouldn't get the T.O.T. Mr. Bagato said that could happen potentially, but currently the fee was $3,000 and the proposed $1,500 fee was an incentive, but if Council felt it was too high, it can be lowered to a flat amount of $250 or $500, which is Council's purview and policy decision. Councilmember Hamik agreed the Council was trying to maintain the integrity of the neighborhoods and believed it would be accomplished through knowledge and enforcing current ordinances already in place; however, staff said there were only seven problems in ten years. She said if registering was made easy for those that want to rent their home, the City would then have information to monitor potential problem situations, because it has a great Police Department that responded well. And if any of those problems involved rentals, the property ownerwill lose the privilege of renting out their house. With regard to the condition of limiting one guest per bedroom and to the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., she thought was unrealistic. She said if she had guests in her home, chances are they're going to be there past 8:00 p.m., because she had adult children who will bring more than one friend. She believed the Council was trying to make sure visitors and guests in the City had the most positive experience possible to stay or buy a home here, and they certainly wanted people to spend their money in the City's retail outlets and restaurants. She said it was important a positive experience be created for everyone, and it can be accomplished by allowing people who want to rent to apply for a business license in order for the City to gather the most information possible. She said she lived in a neighborhood where there had been a couple of rentals and she didn't experience one problem. Councilmember Finerty stated on June 25, 2009, the City Council debated the same topic, and at that time, she said she felt the integrity of the residential neighborhoods needed to be preserved and that short-term leases, whether three days or up to 30 days, were not compatible with preserving that residential integrity. She said the City had a Commercial Zone for hotels, timeshares, and motels where people can stay, and if the Council allowed people to come to Palm Desert for three days in a residential 22 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 neighborhood, it would change the character of the neighborhood she had moved into, which was the reason she was opposed. Councilman Kroonen asked if nothing was approved this afternoon, where would things stand. Mr. Bagato responded that per the current Ordinance, if a home was Zoned R-1, a CUP is required. Otherwise, short-term rentals are permitted outright everywhere else and only enforced based on complaints. Further responding, he said the current Ordinance had been in place since the year 2000. If someone applied for a CUP right now, the fee would be $2,915, because there was no other process. Councilman Kroonen stated that people who have been buying their homes as a permanent residence over a period of years have bought them under the assumptions that those would be the prevailing regulations; i.e., short-term rentals would not be an appropriate use of their neighbors home. Mr. Bagato responded it would not be correct to call it inappropriate, because short-term rentals are allowed with a CUP and restrictions in the R-1 Zone. Councilman Kroonen said the main problem with the current Ordinance is that the City is constantly referring to underground, which he found a rather offensive term. It implied to him that the City was not adequately enforcing current Ordinances already in place. He said he purchased his home in Palm Desert 35 years ago on the assumption of being able to live in a quiet and well -controlled neighborhood. Unfortunately, that hadn't always been the case. He took issue with the fact that although there have only been seven formal reports of problems, he could name seven problems in his neighborhood that had taken place in the last two or three years and believed everyone needed protection from that sort of thing. He agreed further enhancement of the Ordinance was in order, although many felt it was not a big problem. However, when you have one of these "party homes" in your neighborhood, it's a very big problem for the people that live nearby. He said his neighbor across the street had repeated problems with people arriving in the middle of the night, making loud noise, property owner out of town has been contacted and has said he would take care of the problem, but it doesn't get taken care of. He has seen property owners who live in a nearby community who basically thumb their nose to people who have complained to them. His point being that stricter regulations are needed and the proposed Ordinance has gone a long way in taking care of that. In talking to Councilmember Roach from the City of Indian Wells, he knew they are in the process of developing a policy, but didn't know what the City of Rancho Mirage's policy was. Mr. Bagato said the City of Rancho Mirage had only dealt with short-term 23 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 rentals when addressing noise or potentially other issues, but didn't prohibit them at this time; they are watching to see what Palm Desert will do and is looking at a similar approach of implementing a CUP for non -gated communities. The City of Indian Wells has been on the fence about prohibiting them altogether, and the City of La Quinta is trying to function more like Palm Springs by getting more active in enforcing and attempting to get the T.O.T. and allowing short-term rentals through a standard ordinance. The proposed Ordinance Amendment is to require the CUP with a standard set of conditions. He said modifications can be made at any point throughout the process, because it was a policy decision and enforced through a resolution, which is a lot easier to change. The last comment of the subcommittee was that this was a long discussed issue for two years and it negotiated to implement the proposed process for six months to a year to see how it went. If staff finds it's not that big a problem, modifications can be made to make it more business friendly or more restrictive if homeowners are having a lot of problems with adjacent short-term rentals. He commented this issue was similar to the recreational vehicles debate where there are no winning parties. Councilman Kroonen commended everyone who had been working diligently for a long time on this matter and, he too, was looking for a win -win situation for everyone. He said he wouldn't want this evening's decision to be considered as punitive and hoped it lead to an absence of the need for people to go underground to escape whatever it may be. In looking at the current condition, and as a personal matter, he would feel better that instead of three days and two night's stay, it was a minimum of a week. He agreed the fee of $1,500 for a CUP was too high. Mayor Benson said the Council had received several letters suggesting a minimum week stay and other letters stating that in these economic times people are buying homes in Palm Desert because they are cheap for once, and wish to rent them out until they retire. She said it seemed there was an abundance of short-term rentals coming in because of the market, and she didn't know whether the Council should go back to the drawing board to review some of the restrictions. She agreed the $1,500 fee was too high and believed the integrity of the neighborhood should be preserved, but she didn't want to run down the City either. She noted information was distributed to her colleagues on information she had checked on that showed the cities of Carmel and San Luis Obispo prohibited short-term rentals. She said the Council heard mixed comments this evening. Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel agreed with staffs comments that whatever was approved this evening was not set in stone and can be amended whenever. He said a lot of work went into drafting the proposed Ordinance Amendment by staff and subcommittee, including he and Mayor Benson. 24 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel moved to waive further reading and: 1) Pass Ordinance No. 1223 to second reading, approving a Zoning Ordinance Amendment requiring a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for Short-term Vacation Rentals in non -gated communities; 2) adopt Resolution No. 2011 - 24, approving a set of standard Conditions of Approval for Short-term Rentals and establishing a new $500 Flat Fee for a Short-term Rentals Minor CUP. Motion died for lack of a second. Councilmember Harnik said one of the things the City has been working on was marketing toward the driving market with families that could come for Friday and Saturday night and get three full days to spend their money in Palm Desert. One thing mentioned that concerned her was those persons thumbing their nose at complaints, which she felt was a bigger issue than the short-term rentals and needed to be addressed with the City's public safety. She went on to say that in her experience working in a gated community, she found there was a lot more T.O.T. to be collected, but if more restrictions are placed, fewer people will feel obligated to report their rentals, and whether you call it underground or a black rental market, that's what it becomes. She said the City's focus should not be on putting more ordinances, restrictions, rules and regulations, but enforcing those well -reasoned ones already in place. She said there are things to glean from what came out of this subcommittee that can be used, but one had to be careful not to put a blanket approach and making it difficult for people to step up and be accounted, as far as business people and people who are renting. Mayor Benson said law enforcement has said they didn't have a strong Ordinance to enforce, so when they go out, they can't do anything. Mr. Bagato said one of the items on today's agenda that was approved earlier when Code Enforcement Supervisor Pedro Rodriguez came up to the podium, allows for the City to issue Administrative Citations, which will give Enforcement Officers the authority to issue fine violations. Additionally, because of the experience with Augusta Restaurant, the City improved the Noise Ordinance, which now has more teeth. He said the City has the tools in place to enforce and address noise complaints better than it had in the past. Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel amended his motion to include that the process be reviewed in six months. Councilman Kroonen said he liked most of what was proposed but was concerned with the minimum number of days. Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel said if the audience was asked, they would agree it needs to be two nights, because people who come down for the weekend, stay Friday and Saturday night, and return to Los Angels to be in their home by Sunday night. He said the majority of the traffic is drive-in traffic. 25 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MARCH 24, 2011 Councilman Kroonen said he had great respect for all the people who came to speak this evening and appreciated the dignity in which each presented themselves. However, back in 1981 when he was elected to the Desert Sands School Board, another elected official advised him to listen to the people who came to talk to you but also keep an ear to the ground, listening to everybody else who was not there before you. Councilmember Finerty agreed, stating if the majority of Palm Desert residents knew that their neighborhood could be changed by how property owners are allowed to rent out for two nights, they would not be in favor. The other point that needed to be made was that the Council was faced with challenging budget issues and obviously public safety was always going to be number one, but to think the City will expend public safety officers to deal with short-term rental, which is changing the integrity of the residential neighborhood in the first place, was a ridiculous way to spend money. Councilmember Hamik said it almost seemed like this conversation was based on the presumption that all renters are bad, which she didn't think was the case. She said she traveled to places and rented for short periods with her family and is always welcomed back. She said the few and far between issues should be considered, because she can bet that those people who have purchased homes cause as many problems with sound and disrespect for their neighbors in probably far greater numbers than renters. She said it was like the old 1950's with the one percent motorcycle riders, and it was like assigning bad behavior to all renters, and she wasn't sure that was fair. Motion was seconded by Hamik. Councilman Kroonen said he wanted the record to reflect that his comments did not mean that he thought all his neighbors were bad. He said there were thousands of wonderful people who lived in this community, and he wouldn't want to in anyway infer that he felt anything to the contrary. He asked Councilmember Harnik not to characterize him in her group. Councilmember Hamik said she didn't mean to and was just speaking on this specific conversation regarding renters. Mayor Benson called for the vote and the motion carried on a 3-2 vote with Finerty and Kroonen voting NO. 26