TO: Mayor Novell and Councilpersons (thank you for your service).
FROM: Scott Deitz, Fort Bragg resident 4.D.
RE: Public comment regarding item 8a, 1/08 Council meeting.
Fort Bragg has done a good job of keeping vacation rentals out of the City thereby avoiding the problems that they can cause; mainly loss of housing for locals and neighbor disputes. Mendocino Village has been trying to reverse the mistakes it made allowing vacation rentals for years.
I was on the Council when we voted to allow vacation rentals in the Central Business District. There are several buildings downtown that have undeveloped second stories. The Council felt that by allowing second story vacations rentals downtown property owners would be incentivized to develop those second stories, with the side benefit of the installation of sprinkler systems which was a high priority for us. This has not been successful thus far, but the possibility remains.
General Commercial and Highway Commercial zoning includes a large area of Fort Bragg. There are many residences in those zones which could be converted to vacation rentals under this proposal.
One of the main incentives stated to pass this expansion would be to increase taxes to the City. Tourists have many existing places to stay and the City will still get the taxes. The question for the Council to consider is what effect this program would have on the people who live here.
It is suggested that the limit of 10 allowable units could be increased by the City Council. This leaves it up to the political whim not only of this City Council but future ones as well.
This is a bad idea. It would be preferable for the Council to concentrate on improving regulations and procedures to stop the illegal vacation rentals that do exist in Fort Bragg.
City of Fort Bragg
Received
JAN 0 8 2024